Smile
by Thoronmage
Summary: For a knight who feels as though he had failed his duty in protecting his allies, especially the army's tactician, anything can make or break him, even through his cold demeanour. For the tactician, knowing that her allies may mistrust her hurts her, and prevents her from thinking straight... One mere word could be enough to flip everything over. Smile. [Frederick x F!Robin]
1. A fateful injury

**My first story on here... And it _just had_ to be one of my favourite Fire Emblem Awakening ships which to me, seems highly under-appreciated on here! Hahaha... Well, I hope that it is okay, and you all enjoy!**

* * *

The smell of blood was quickly lost to the air in the midst of a sandstorm, and the metallic taste in the air was rapidly replaced with sand. Not often was Robin freed from that grim reminder that she was in the midst of combat – no, war – but the sting of wounds were capable of reminding her otherwise.

Blood was trickling down from her wrist to her tome, causing it damage which would not fare well when within this situation. Any damage – be it water, snow or creases – was enough to prevent the tome from working at its full power, if it even decided to work.

"Why-!"

The tactician had to quickly dive down to the side as an axe was swung towards her.

"Won't-!"

This time, her legs were the primary target, so she had to run as fast as she could away from the weapon.

"You… Die!"

She had fell down into the sand in her previous attempt to dodge. That, alongside her tome now being too damaged from blood to use, left her vulnerable.

The next thing that happened? A bloodcurdling scream. _Her_ bloodcurdling scream. Yet at the same time… She could hear metal hit metal. A weapon, possibly?...

And then she found herself not in the middle of battle… But in her tent. In camp. "G- Gods… What was that?… A nightmare?..." She sat up from where she was lying, and shook her head, pushing what had happened to the back of her mind. It wasn't real. There was no chance of it being real. After all, her plans were still exactly where she had left them on her make-shift desk, consisting of a large crate, which used to be filled with a surplus of food long since consumed by the rest of the camp in the form of Sumia's pies.

With a faint laugh, she went to pull herself up to her feet, and she realised that there was a slight draft in her tent. "Must be windy still… Maybe I should put my coat on." She whispered, noticing her coat neatly folded on the top of a stack of her books.

Feeling the warmth provided to her from her coat was like a dream. It was one of her few possessions which had been with her from the start, from when she was found in the field in Ylisse by Chrom, Lissa and Frederick with naught but a name, the clothes on her back, her weapons… and a nightmare. "One year… It's been a year or so, hasn't it?..."

Crazy. It was crazy at how fast time had gone whilst with her new friends and allies.

Thinking of friends and allies… The tactician decided that it was for the best that she go and see them.

What a shock she was in for when she stepped outside her tent though. She noticed Vaike, out of anyone, asleep right beside her tent. "What?...Vaike?" She went to nudge the man, but felt a dull ache in her leg. "Ow… Must have slept on it funny or something."

Her mumbling was enough to awaken the buffoon known as 'teach', and just the sight of her was a shock to him. "Wh- Whaaaaat?! Oh no, I better go tell ol' Chrom that Robin's ghost is haunting the camp!"

"Gh- Ghost?! Vaike, what are you going on about?!" He had already by that point jumped to his feet, and began to run off. "Wait! Vaike!"

By that point, the ache was no longer so 'dull'. No, it was more like… A throbbing pain.

But what could he have meant… 'Robin's ghost'?… She pinched herself, and it proved to her that she was very much alive. Maybe she had just over-slept or something, and Vaike was… Maybe a bit drunk? Then again, it was Vaike. Not many people were able to understand his mindset.

With a small groan, she went and decided to go and find someone else – anyone else – and thankfully… She found someone a little more… sane, per se. "Lissa?"

"Huh?!" The princess jumped up from where she was sat, looking at her stave, before turning around. "Robin, you're okay!"

"What do you mean, 'you're okay'?… I've been fine, and I haven't been aware of any change-!"

"You need to see Chrom! He will have to explain it to you!"

* * *

"I… Should have stopped it earlier..." The knight thrust his lance forward into a tree, and growled to himself afterwards as he pulled it back out. "I should have been more prepared… I should have been faster!"

A few more thrusts into the tree were made, but the sheer force of the attack made the lance, despite it being made of pure silver, break in half like a twig. "I must get another lance… I must train myself to be stronger!"

Frederick had been over-exerting himself in his training for days now. He had barely managed to 'fulfil his duty as a knight' in his opinion a few days previously. The reason why?

He had barely just made it in time to save a comrade's life, after they were targeted by bandits specifically hired by the king of Plegia himself in an attempt to hinder the Shepherds' progress in rescuing the exalt. Allowing the exalt herself to be taken hurt his pride as a knight enough, but almost losing their only tactician too… It would have mentally killed him.

Knowing that he and Chrom were the only people who fully understood what had happened too was causing him a lot of pain as it was.

Four days previously, two days after recruiting Nowi and Gregor to their cause, the Shepherds had set up camp after scouting the area and discovering that there were no Plegians within a hundred mile radius. Having a manakete on their side assured that too, for she was much more capable at flying further distances at a faster speed than the pegasus knights. Robin, as usual, was set up in her tent at the outskirts of the camp, due to the peace and quiet which was provided there for when she was planning any further routes.

A commotion that night was enough to catch both his and Chrom's attention as they discussed as to how long they had left to save Emmeryn.

The source of the commotion? Robin's tent.

Upon investigating, there was a piece of parchment left on the floor there, with only four words upon it. 'Eliminate the Ylissean tactician'. It was easy enough to figure out that this was an order from Gangrel.

But how had the Plegians managed to get so close to the camp, without the scouts being able to see them? There was nothing but wasteland and desert surrounding them. There wasn't anywhere to hide.

And then comes the reason why Frederick was so annoyed with himself.

By the time that he and Chrom had found where the Plegians had managed to pull Robin away from the camp, about thirty minutes later (though it was hard to tell, due to how long the Plegian daytime was), she was gravely injured. Blood coating her arm, and her tome strewn onto the sand. From what they could see, she had been able to fend off all but one of the Plegian soldiers. The one that was left was about to kill her with his axe.

Put simply… What Robin had thought was a nightmare, was the cold, harsh reality of what had happened.

Frederick angrily recovered the remnants of his lance, and he was made to wince as the sharp points of the lance dug into his hands. "Surely I could have been more prepared for something such as this..."

With a frown, the knight decided that he must return to camp. The little nature in Plegia must be preserved – his training must not harm it much, though no harm would have been best.

The same would have gone with Robin too… No harm would be best.

Just the thought that their trusted tactician, who had, over time, assisted him with his fear of eating bear meat, and in turn, earning his trust - the wariest knight's trust – was gravely injured and unconscious, constantly having to be tended to by healers and be kept under watch caused him pain. What could happen if she were not to wake up before the next moon? Would Ylisse be doomed to lose their exalt? Be doomed to become nothing but a doormat to Gangrel, and be flattened by him?

What if she… died? There was nobody with tactical know-how up to Robin's standards. The whole war council would not be enough to come up with a good enough strategy in a whole night which she could come up with in a mere few hours.

Would he… never be able to hear her optimism in these dire situations again? Though his face never showed it, he was always happy to hear her voice when they were in a troublesome situation.

' _Don't worry! We will win this war, and you can all return to Ylisse with Emmeryn by your side! Look forward to your future!'_

 _'Haha, it's nice to see that everyone in the Shepherds get along so well! I feel so privileged to be fighting alongside you!'_

 _'Smile, Frederick! You need to wind down from being serious sometimes, and be happy!'_

Smile.

That word, even though he was simply recalling it being said in her voice… It was enough to turn the sides of the knight's mouth up. Smile. They were in the middle of a war… And she had told him to smile.

The word brought a fuzzy warmth to his insides, and he closed his eyes as he continued to smile. That tactician…

She was a piece of work.

No wonder Lon'qu called her a con-woman at times, the way in which she was able to manipulate how people felt. But she never made anyone feel bad – quite the opposite, really.

What _was_ she doing to him?!

A knight couldn't afford distractions like this! They were at _war_ for gods' sake!

Upon hearing the voices of his fellow companions nearby then, he realised that maybe he should have returned quite a while ago. The sun was not a good way of telling the time when in Plegia, unlike Ylisse.

"Frederick! C- Come quickly!" Sumia running over to the knight before tripping up was a sudden shock. He had never realised that people were actually so close to him. "It's Robin!"

"What? What about her?"

"Sh- She's awake!"

* * *

"Wait… So that _wasn't_ a nightmare?!"

"I'm afraid so, Robin… Here, drink some tea, you look parched, darling! It can aid you in relieving your pain also."

Maribelle's presence whilst Robin only really wanted to talk to Chrom was hardly much of a reassurance to her. Though Robin did hold trust in her, and saw her as a friend, she wasn't exactly in the mood to have too many people around her.

The tea however, was gratefully accepted.

"Thank you..." The tactician trailed off, before she took a small sip of the drink before her, and then almost at the same time, dropping the cup as she burst into tears. That was the arm which had been cut by a sword. Reminding her of the blood coating her tome, which could have cost her more than just a few days' consciousness. "Gods, I'm so pathetic… I should have been able to fight off that last Plegian!"

A stern glare from Chrom made her gulp though. He didn't appreciate her talking in such a manner, especially when it came to the fact that if she would have continued to fight, it would have cost her the most precious thing to her. Her life.

Lissa worriedly placed her hand on Robin's shoulder, but seeing Robin flinch at the contact made her pull back. "It hurts a bit there… Probably just a bruise… H- Hey, don't give me that worried look, Lissa!"

"Sorry… I just thought that I scared you..."

"Scare me? No… It just hurt."

With a sigh of relief, Lissa was able to smile at Robin then. It was good to see that she was still… Vaguely back to normal.

Over the next few minutes, Maribelle had poured Robin another drink of tea before leaving, because of various other members of the Shepherds coming in to see Robin to see if she were okay for a few moments, before returning to their duties. After these few minutes though, Robin began to feel restless.

"Chrom, I think I want to go back to my tent now… But after hearing about what happened, I don't want it to remain at the edge of camp..." That was understandable to the prince. Plus, if she did move further into the camp, there would no longer be a need to have someone stand vigil outside, to make sure that nobody tried to take her and bring her harm yet again. "Though… I need to thank Maribelle for the tea first. It actually has helped quite a bit in numbing the pain."

"I tell you what then… I can gather a few people, and I, alongside them, can move your things closer to the centre of camp, whilst you go and see Maribelle, okay?"

A small nod was enough to let Chrom know that the idea was approved by her. Slowly, she then rose to her feet, and used the seat which she was sat on almost like a crutch as she stood still for a moment. "By any chance… Is there any chance that you can get Maribelle to come here instead? I can barely-"

"My apologies… Am I interrupting something here?"

The sudden voice, strangely quiet for the owner of said voice, was enough to stop Robin mid sentence. Chrom also put on a small smile then. "Nice to see that you decided not to dedicate an entire third day towards training again, Frederick..."

Robin slowly turned around, still holding onto the chair to help her stand. ' _Gods, this pain in my leg is such a hindrance…'_ was her only thought as she too put on a smile. "It's about time! I'm surprised you weren't one of the first here, Frederick… Being the one who saved my life, and all..."

" _'It's better late than never'_ … Isn't it?"

Just that phrase coming from Frederick was enough to make Chrom and Robin glance at each other in confusion. Was this _actually_ Frederick that they were speaking to? Did he _actually_ just say that?

"Are… You okay, Frederick?"

"I have felt better, milord. My mind has not been in the right place as of late. Naught that a short walk can fix."

That gave Chrom an idea. Though he knew that it would be a long shot to get Robin in on it fully…

He explained his idea to them nonetheless. Frederick had spent the past few days angry that he was unable to get to Robin on time to save her, and was needing to clear his mind. Robin was wanting to distract herself from the pain, and move further into the camp, for her own safety. "… I know that you two may not think of it as that good an idea… But at least it is something which can be done for both of your sakes..."

"Wait, you… You want me to be like a crutch for Robin?..."

"That's what you are dwelling on, Frederick? I'm more focussed on the fact that he wants us to stay in the same tent!"

Despite the fact that the two of them were speaking their concerns towards the plan, they knew that it would be for the best. They couldn't come up with much else, plus, it would save time in having to take down and then reassemble Robin's tent. There was also another unspoken downside to the plan, which the two of them knew of also.

One name.

 _Lissa._

Seeing them be together constantly would set her off with various different rumours, not to mention the constant teasing. They just couldn't bring themselves around to say it in front of Chrom though, knowing that he knew not of this side of Lissa too well.

"Would you two at least consider it as an option?" A small glance between the two was enough to say it all, alongside a painful shrug from Robin, and a very faint smile from Frederick. "Right then… We should keep these arrangements in place until Robin has fully recovered for sure. I know that it isn't exactly what the two of you would want to do, but it is probably the only thing that we can do..."

* * *

Chrom frowned as he waited for Robin later that day, having helped relocate all of her belongings alongside Gaius, Sully and Stahl. It had took a lot to stop Gaius from trying to _eat_ some of the scented candles which she had to relax- notably the sweet smelling ones. Plus, with Stahl constantly noticing different books which had things to do with herbs in them, constantly catching his interest, it was quite the chore.

However… Knowing that the war could entirely depend on Robin's well-being, he was able to endure the task.

One thing was playing on his mind though… Where was Robin and Frederick? The knight had only taken Robin to visit Maribelle so that she could express her gratitude, and just saying 'thank you' couldn't take that long… Could it?

Little did he know, Robin had became sidetracked in the process of going to meet him.

"I've never seen such a snake before… I presume that they must be commonplace in these lands..." Robin mumbled, placing her hand on the back of the snake as it moved past her. It hissed as it escaped her grasp, and Frederick looked at her with much curiosity. He had never seen someone so eager to interact with unfamiliar species (not counting Taguel and Manaketes as 'unfamiliar species', due to one, having companions of said species, and two, they do have human-like forms), and not giving a damn in the world over the risk.

Robin gasped as a large Plegian crow swooped down from the sky and took grasp of the snake. A predator and its prey…

She felt stuck in that situation.

Gangrel and his Plegians were the predators… She and the Shepherds were the prey.

The events from the other day reaffirmed this belief too. She specifically was picked off from the prey, to make the rest of the prey easy targets without someone to keep things sorted as carefully as possible.

It made her begin to cry. But not just cry, it was like… An all out downpour.

"Robin… Smile. You said it to me once… So now I am saying it to you. A tactician needs to stay positive, if I am correct?"

That triggered a faint smile upon Robin's face. Frederick had just used her own words against her.

 _Smile._

She remembered just how positive Frederick had been after that one time she had told him to do just that. Did it really mean that much to him, that one word? Even when the two were in passing, a smile was given.

As with Frederick, the word made her feel warm inside.

"Smile… You know what, Frederick?… You're right. I need to smile… Let the past be the past, hey? After all… What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!" The smile had turned into a grin then. Despite the usage of clichéd phrases in what she had said making her want to wretch, it rung true to her. She was alive right now, wasn't she? "Now then… We have left Chrom waiting for a while now… I suppose that we should meet him."

"Yes. Let us do that…"

Robin happily accepted Frederick's help up off the ground then, feeling much more at ease as she stood up.

 _Smile…_

 _It's amazing what one simple word can do…_

 _Even to a man like Frederick._

* * *

 **So, that's it for the first chapter! I would have liked to write more, but I want to see how this goes down before I continue to write and upload more, so steadily, the chapter lengths _should_ increase! Though, alongside that, there will be an increase in the amount of fluffiness and romance! *laughs and buries head in hands***

 **I hope that you all enjoyed, and are willing to review!**


	2. Trust?

**Ah, so it was a bank holiday, and I was able to fit in the time to write yet another chapter, and so soon after uploading the first too! I've already had a few positive messages and reviews about this story, so I decided that I would upload this today too! So, I hope that you all enjoy!**

* * *

" _Ack-! I- I'm dying!… S- So dark... T- Tell Chrom that- That I-!"_

" _You're not dying. You're… What's the word?… Exaggerating." Robin rolled her eyes as she watched the over-dramatic acting of Frederick, upon the revelation that he had been eating bear meat, not venison. "If you were honestly dying, you might as well die here, or else- Or else you won't last long… On the battle… field?... Oh gods..." Robin shivered mid-sentence. "That was some intense deja vu…"_

" _Indeed. I said the exact same to you, once upon a training session. And you are correct. If one cannot withstand this, I am not worthy of protecting everyone on the front lines..."_

 _As the conversation continued, Robin was continually shocked at simply how Frederick was talking himself back into allowing her to make him eat bear. It did, however, disturb her greatly at how quickly he was able to do so. But either way, she felt pride more than anything. She had helped Frederick get over (what she thought was) his irrational fear, and he seemed to have opened up to her much more than he had ever done._

* * *

"… I just need an attitude like that, don't I?" Robin mumbled to herself as she lay back that night, trying to get some sleep. She had hoped that reminiscing would be enough to send her into a deep sleep that could at least last until morning, but alas, that simply would not be the case.

The pain from her injuries were keeping her awake. Her leg, thankfully, had returned back to a state of dull aching. Her arm was still weak, and vaguely sore. But her head… Her head was worse than anything. She was suffering from a horrible throbbing headache. She had never felt so much pain concentrated into one area of her body like that before, and it was making her want to cry out and headbutt something just to make herself fall unconscious. Waking Lissa or Maribelle wasn't a good enough option either, neither of them liked to be disturbed in their sleep no matter what.

Then she realised something. She had been awake for at least twelve hours by that point… Had she even ate anything? She knew for sure that she had been given drinks – the aftertaste of tea In her mouth was evidence enough of that. But no, she had not even had something to eat.

Nights in Plegia were just as harsh as the daytime, if not more harsh. It was colder than Regna Ferox, and gods, did Robin hate how cold it was in Ferox. Even her coat couldn't help her out this time. There was only one problem with her wanting to go outside to get food though… She needed Frederick's help to walk.

Gods, Chrom and his silly ideas. It was just a relief that Lissa hadn't heard of this arrangement yet.

Though, she didn't exactly mind having Frederick help her. Thankfully, he was good company for her. She could have ended up with, say, Miriel having to help her, or Vaike (who was proven to be slightly drunk at the time that he panicked that Robin was 'a ghost'.) even. At least he trusted her now too, because if he didn't… Maybe this entire situation would have ended up with completely different results.

She could have died, and what would have happened to everyone after that?

Who knew…

With a sigh, she forced herself up to her feet. Her neck felt as though it were supporting a ton of bricks, not a head. Hair clung to the back of her neck, and was falling into her eyes. She had only just realised that she hadn't tied it up as she usually does. "Such a pain..." she grumbled, quickly sorting her hair out as she leaned against a crate of her belongings to keep herself stood up. "How can we be expected to win this war with someone like me holding everyone back?…"

Slowly, she was able to make her way outside. So far, so good. She hadn't fell over constantly, like she had done the day before. "Um… Where is the food then?..." Robin looked around, trying to shake her memory to remember whereabouts the food normally was stored. "Ah… I remember now..."

Thinking about food was a good enough distraction from her headache. But gods, knowing that she hadn't ate in days made her feel as though she were dying. Which, in theory, was probably true, being in the middle of Plegia and all.

"Food… So hungry..." She mumbled, food obviously being her _only_ priority now, not even trying to stay stood upright.

"What are you doing?"

The sudden hand on her shoulder snapped her out of her food induced daze.

"Huh?… Oh, Chrom?…" Robin had to force herself into putting on a happy face at the sight of seeing her friend. Though tired, he found it easy to tell that she was feigning her happiness. "Isn't it cold to you?..."

"Very cold. But what are you doing out here? You should be resting… We need to move tomorrow, the Plegians are trying to close in on us, and we need you awake then..."

Robin placed her hand on her stomach and groaned. "Food… Not ate since I woke up..." By the looks of things, she was quite evidently starting to feel sick staying stood still.

"I tell you what, I'll help you get something to eat… But you have to promise to rest until we move in the morning afterwards, okay?" The stern look given to her from the prince as he spoke let her know that she wasn't allowed to say yes or no, she had to go along with what he had said no matter what she thought or did. "Come on. You look tired too, and you can barely stand straight, so I'll help you quickly."

* * *

"Yeah… It looks as though the Plegian city is just a bit further ahead… Inside that giant… skull..." Robin whispered, looking at the skeletal remains of… some sort of massive creature in the desert. The six eyes upon the skull made her instinctively look at her right hand.

Her brand bore six eyes too.

She was quick to make the link that this mark upon her hand must have been Plegian. Was she really from Plegia? Does she have some sort of past in Plegia? She had no idea. Being an amnesiac made it so hard to answer such vague questions.

"Are you sure about walking, Robin?"

The sudden voice ringing out was enough to snap Robin away from her thoughts. "Huh?… Oh, yes. I have a lot more energy today. I suppose a day of not walking whilst we moved yesterday allowed me to rest up enough, Frederick. Anyway, I think we're almost where we need to be for my plan to be set into motion." She nodded towards the skull again, before looking at her bandaged wrist. "Plus, this is more of a concern than my legs now! Can't use a sword properly at the moment..."

"Well, at least we still have your head!" Chrom laughed as he overheard the short conversation, before trying to ruffle her hair.

"Even then… I've not been thinking straight. You know that plan to rescue Emmeryn that I showed you yesterday?… Well… That was the fifth draft of the plan which I had come up with… It is full of little faults, but it has about an eighty, maybe seventy percent chance of success… At least that's higher than the twenty percent of the next best idea..."

"What? Have you been distracted or something?" Frederick questioned, and she simply stopped in her tracks.

"How could I _not_ be distracted?… I've been who everyone is worrying over! _I'm not the exalt! I'm not the one that brings peace to everyone, it's Emmeryn! Why are you all worried about me when we should be worried about her?!"_ She suddenly shouted, before dropping to her knees crying. It was a shock to everyone in the Shepherds to hear Robin have such an outburst, but they were sympathetic to the pain in her voice. They understood why she felt as though she shouldn't be at the forefront of their minds, but they also understood that she didn't know that she was one of the most important members of the Shepherds.

"Don't talk like that." Frederick growled his response to her, and that just made her clench her fists as she sobbed even more. "You don't understand how important you are. Talk like that, and everyone in the army is forfeiting their lives for nothing. Be positive, Robin. Smile."

 _There was that word again._

It had started to slip into almost all of their conversations now.

Just hearing yet again was suddenly able to change her entire mood. "Gods… We're going to keep saying that to each other until we die, aren't we?..."

However, Lissa and Chrom had also began to notice that pattern too. As a matter of fact, everyone had.

"Chrom… Are you _sure_ that you don't think that there is anything going on between those two? I mean, they're spending almost all of their time together and are trying to make each other happy!"

"I'm sure, Lissa… Anyway, I ordered Frederick to stay with Robin. It stopped him from training excessively, if you have noticed."

"I agree with the princess, Blue. Has to be romance."

"AHEM. Need I remind you that we can hear your conversation?"

With a pout, Lissa backed away with Gaius, and they continued to quietly talk about how they thought that there was definitely something about Robin and Frederick's relationship being more than something professional. Chrom sighed at their childish attitude.

"I'm so sorry about those two..."

"Don't worry… We _knew_ that Lissa would be one of the downsides to your plan, Chrom..." Robin muttered with a sigh. "Can we just get to saving Emmeryn now? My head isn't going to be able to take this much more..."

"Right… Anyway, from what our scouts have reported… Today… This afternoon… I- It's when Gangrel wants to..."

"We know… We'll have Emmeryn rescued by tonight, and we can be on our way back to Ylisse…" Robin continued to smile as she spoke, giving the lord hope. And without realising it, she was making Frederick smile too. He didn't even realise it himself.

* * *

"Stop it! Stop that right now!" Lissa was glaring at Robin as she had to slap the tactician across the face. "Emm died because of _Gangrel!_ Not you!"

"But- But my plan failed-!"

"Enough about your damn plan, Robin! What's past is past, we need to get the hell out of here!" Sully's voice echoed in the canyon which they had to escape through, whilst rain poured down around them.

Robin could feel nothing but responsibility for the Exalt dying as they all tried to escape the mass of Plegians that were not too far behind them by that point. Everyone was telling her otherwise, but she just would not believe them. The rain pouring onto her face was easily capable of hiding her tears. "Gods… I'm not worthy of helping any of you… I'm not worthy of being trusted..." The thing is, nobody heard her say that. She was using that as evidence enough to reinforce her opinion, and she was not going to stop herself from thinking this was so long as she knew that.

"Come on! There's more Plegians ahead of us now, we're going to have to fight our way through!" Chrom's voice echoed over the sound of rain, and the occasional rumbling of thunder. There was only one upside to them being stuck in the middle of a storm though… It cleared the air.

And the clear air did give Robin a clearer mind, so some of the stress which she was experiencing was lifted off her shoulders. Unfortunately… Not all of it.

 _'If anything goes wrong...Remember that as long as you have hope, you cannot lose anything… At least, that is what Lady Emmeryn said whenever times were dark in Ylisse. That can apply even now, if we all so wish it…'_

Those words which were spoken by Frederick to get Robin to cheer up earlier, a few minutes after Emmeryn's death. He was dwelling on them now, despite the fact that he was only really saying it to keep the tactician's hopes up about winning the war.

As a matter of fact, he wasn't the only one thinking about those words. It was everyone but Chrom and Robin. The two of them were getting frustrated and upset with any Plegians getting in the way, and were blindly attacking them without a thought.

Though, Robin was in a much worse state than Chrom. She was constantly having to keep her tome stashed under her coat, which was now starting to get soaked. And boy, was it frustrating her.

Seeing the two fighting without a care did, however, quickly snap Frederick out of his thoughts, alongside a few others.

"Milord, Robin, stop!"

"Geez, big brother! You're going to get killed! You too, Robin! You've almost died once this week already!"

"I'm not stopping until they pay for what they did to Emm!"

Robin just pretended to blank out people shouting to get her to stop. She felt as though she had lost all of the trust that she had earned, so why not?

Yet, she was being told otherwise.

What use was she anyway? It wasn't as though people ever fully wanted her here anyway, wasn't it?

And despite that, people were acting otherwise. They were trying to stop her from fighting.

"Hehe… Allow me to stop her from hurting herself..."

The creepy laugh from Tharja was enough to unsettle everyone. It was even enough to get Chrom to stop fighting, and give her a concerned look. But Robin? She just ignored it, for the most part.

However, she was not prepared for a wave of tiredness to hit her so suddenly. "Ugh… What?..." She held her hand against her head as she sank down to her knees, and dropping her tome into the mess of sand and mud which was around her. "So… Tired… What did she do?..."

"Hey! Don't make her completely fall asleep! She just needs to calm down a bit! We all need our trusted tactician to get a level head in battle, not a sleeping one!" Cordelia's voice was heard shouting, just as Robin felt Sumia and Nowi pull her up to her feet.

"Trust… What do you mean, trust?… Do you all still… Trust me?"

"To relinquish our credence towards the tactician is to abdicate our lives and this bloodshed."

"Why would we not trust our fine lady tactician?"

"Haha, yes, tactician lady is very trusted!"

Hearing that before she yawned did manage to raise Robin's spirits a little bit, though it didn't stop her from feeling so tired. "I thought that you all no longer trusted me… I guess not..."

"May you please remove this curse which is tiring Robin?" Libra's voice was then, heard, another voice soon following.

"Tch… They've surrounded us."

As soon as Tharja was forcefully made to stop her curse from making Robin fall asleep in Sumia and Nowi's arms, everyone got ready to fight – this time with a tactician who actually did as her role intended.

And she was smiling.

It was a smile which could rival Lissa's, and was infectious. "So then… It looks as though we have four different routes to take here…"

* * *

The cold snow of Ferox was surprisingly a welcome change from the dry and hot climate of Plegia, and all of the Shepherds were relieved to set foot in the magical feeling substance, and none more than Lissa, despite her initial dislike of the snow.

"Hehe… I couldn't do this with sand… But I can do this with snow..." She packed some snow together to about the size of a dragonstone, before throwing it to the first person who came into her line of sight.

Chrom never saw it coming.

"Ack-! Are we under-!" Lissa laughing wildly cut the prince off mid-sentence. "Gods… Now isn't the time for this, Lissa! Our sister is dead, we are under the threat of attack at any time, and you are throwing snowballs everywhere!"

"I'm only trying to lighten the mood! You've been acting different since Emm died… I don't like you acting this way, big brother!" Lissa began to pout after that, before seeing Robin stood nearby. "You agree with me, right?!"

The tactician gave her a blank look as she was called to, before shrugging her shoulders.

Angrily, Lissa shoved past Chrom, looking to see where Maribelle was, to see if she could get someone to agree with her. She wanted her brother to be happy, but gods, she was not going to see that at any point until she got this other opinion.

Robin didn't want to get involved in what she could only see as a family feud, so she didn't pay any attention to Chrom cursing under his breath once Lissa had walked away. She was trying to keep herself happy, after all.

"Robin? How are you feeling now?"

Hearing someone talk to her then made her smile. "Oh, I'm fine, Stahl. My wrist still hurts a bit from using my tome before. How come you are asking?"

"Just curious. I wanted to know if you could lend me a hand in cooking tonight's meal… Everyone is tired, so they need a big meal to give them their energy back. Of course, not having much energy applies to me too..." the cavalier laughed, just for Robin to nod. She had been learning how to cook before she sustained her injuries a few days before, so she would be willing to try and cook something to see if those lessons had paid off.

And so, debates ensues. What were they actually going to cook?

"Maybe some sort of stew? Soup?"

"What about a roast dinner of sorts?"

"Stahl, they take almost six or more hours to cook fully! We would have had to start hours ago!"

"Oh, right… Then what about a casserole? Um… Something with a lot of potatoes maybe? I've heard Lon'qu is good at preparing potatoes..."

"We should just go with a stew, Stahl… We literally only need to prepare the ingredients and throw them into a pot of boiling water for about an hour..."

"Fine, fine, I guess a stew it is then."

Meanwhile, Chrom, out of his agitation, had asked Frederick to help him train for a while, to forget about yelling at Lissa.

"Try not to tense your arms so much, milord. Your blade will apply less pressure when you loosen your muscles."

"It's hard not to do that though, being out here..."

"Then you shall have to train your endurance also. If the Plegians were to follow us here, we would be in danger of losing the war if you are incapable of fighting in the snow."

"I know..."

Chrom tried to relax his arms, against what his mind was telling him to do, and let his instincts kick in as he swung Falchion towards Frederick. The knight's reflexes were enough to prevent Chrom from wildly attacking though. He was quick enough to block the attack with his lance.

It didn't take long for Chrom to realise that maybe, just maybe, he needed to think his attacks through. Unfortunately, in those few moments, he found Frederick's lance pointed at his chest. "You let your guard down, milord. You were open for an attack. If I were an enemy, I would not have taken a moment to think. I would have pierced you with my lance."

With a sigh, the prince pushed down the lance before sheathing Falchion. He had never been able to best Frederick in training, and this time was no different. As a matter of fact, he had never seen anyone best Frederick – in battle or when in practise.

This man seemed almost invincible.

 _Almost._

Chrom noticed that Frederick had began to think about something, and smirked at this golden opportunity. Within seconds, his sword was pointed right at his neck. "What was that about letting your guard down, Frederick?"

"My apologies… I could just smell something cooking. Quite distracting."

Frederick was right. There was a smell lingering in the air, and it was most definitely food. And by the smell of it, it would be delicious food of sorts.

"Stahl, we forgot the carrots!"

"What?! Quick, pass them over, Robin! Oh, and the leek!"

"Leek? There was meant to be leek?! I thought it was celery-!"

"Oh, just add that then… It won't make much difference..."

After a few more minutes, the two who were meant to be cooking collapsed down onto some seats, and sighed deeply. They had honestly no idea what they were doing at first, despite Stahl's expertise in cooking. With the differing tastes of everyone in the Shepherds, it was hard to decide on ingredients which would appease each and every single one of them.

However, Robin had decided to be a bit cheeky behind Stahl's back. Yes, she had helped Frederick 'recover' from his phobia of bear meat, but he still flinched at times when eating it. And then there was Lissa. She thought that bear meat tasted worse than rough leather boots.

She had 'substituted' the meat which was meant to go into the stew with bear. How she wanted to see their reaction after they had ate it, when she reveals the what the ingredient which Stahl assumed was venison really was.

What neither of them had expected though… Was that people began to gather around what they were cooking, and asking what the nice smell was.

"Ooh! Let me taste! Let me, please!" Nowi was trying to cup her hands, and scoop up some of the stew to taste it. Stahl quickly held the manakete back as Robin briskly placed the lid on top. "Why are you two being mean?!"

"It hasn't finished cooking, Nowi. You don't want to get food poisoning!"

"But I wanna try!"

"Wait for about another ten minutes, okay?" Robin stated, looking at the liquid bubbling away. "It's almost finished anyway." She had never actually made anything which had looked so nice before, and so she was excited about trying it out once it was done.

"Ah, okay! I can't wait!"

"So… It's you and Stahl who are cooking. No wonder it smells so nice!" Chrom's voice joined the commotion then, and the tactician could only sigh.

She was kind of hoping that the prince had made up with Lissa, but she knew that it probably wouldn't be the case, seeming as he was with Frederick. And that made her think of something else. Since they had escaped from Plegia… She had forgotten about Chrom's order of Frederick staying with her until she had fully recovered from her injuries, and they seemed to have forgotten too.

But, that didn't really matter right now. They all wanted to forget about what had happened in Plegia, so the food was a good enough distraction.

"Well, Robin did the most of it!"

"H- Huh?! No, you did, Stahl! I barely knew how to use the knife to cut anything, whilst you… You did so much!"

"You came up with the idea though!"

Seeing that they didn't get anywhere debating who did more, they suddenly shut up before they shrugged their shoulders. Who cared, so long as it tasted as good as it smelled?

And then, Robin felt a hand tap her shoulder. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Oh, sure… Just give me a moment to readjust this bandage on my arm, okay?"

"You can sort it afterwards. I need to speak to you now."

"Okay, okay…" Robin was confused as to why Frederick was suddenly talking so sternly towards her. It was almost completely different to how he had been for the past few days.

He quickly pulled her outside, into the snow, before looking at her worriedly. "Are you… Okay?"

"Why are you asking? I'm fine, Frederick."

"I just… Feel bad that I couldn't say anything when you thought that nobody trusted you before..."

Oh. Robin bit her lip then, looking down at her feet as she kicked at a bit of snow. "Why?… It was my own thoughts causing that, you have no need to feel bad..."

"I couldn't get you to smile, that's why."

"Smile… Literally every conversation that we have brings up smiling now..."

"I am aware of that, yes. And there is a reason…"

"Oh? And what is that?"

Frederick then smiled, adding to the irony of the conversation about them always trying to make each other smile. "Your smile… I like it. It sounds selfish, but I do like it."

A small laugh was earned from the tactician, as she pulled her coat around herself tightly. She had never heard him being selfish about anything before, even though it is only over something as simple as a smile. "Is that so?" She smirked then, before she looked back. "Oh! I think that the food is-!"

"Wait." Frederick grabbed hold of her injured wrist then, and looked at the bandage on it, before frowning at the horrible blister forming on her hand, and at the patch of fresh blood seeping over the old dried blood. "You hurt yourself again, and you failed to change the bandage this morning. What did you do?"

Robin could only gulp at him questioning her then. "I… scalded myself with some hot water, and it got me right in the centre of my palm… And I accidentally knocked a knife off the table when cutting vegetables… I promise though, there was no blood in the food!"

"That was a bit careless, wasn't it?" But much to Robin's surprise, he laughed at the explanation. "Gods, at the rate which you are going, I am going to have to supervise you all of the time! Not… that I would mind."

"Ah, I should stop injuring myself then!" She awkwardly laughed, before she tapped her foot. "You should go and eat. I need to change this bandage before I even go anywhere near the food now!"

"If that is what you want me to do." Frederick walked away with a smile then, leaving Robin stood alone in the snow. She went to where her things were being stored then, and after searching for a moment, she found some clean bandages.

And then, she suddenly realised something.

"Did he say… That he wouldn't mind supervising me _all_ of the time if I kept hurting myself like this?..."

* * *

 **Heh... Hehehe... I'm sorry, I just enjoyed writing the very last part of this chapter so much. I love this ship so much~**

 **I hope that this chapter is okay, and that you are willing to review~**


	3. Alone in the snowstorm

**Oh... Free lessons and having your laptop with you. I'm getting these chapters written a lot faster than I expected to, so I'll try to wait a few days before uploading the next chapter (I've already wrote out chapter 5...)**

 **Anyway, hope that you enjoy! Hehe, it was too fun to write this chapter!**

* * *

A gentle hand taking hold of her own, fingers interlocking as she felt a warm breath against her neck. It was highly comforting, especially when she began to feel another hand slowly combing through her hair. She couldn't move, but it wasn't as though she wanted to. And then, after a few moments of what felt like a loving embrace, she then felt herself be pulled closer to whoever was holding onto her. Much to her shock, she then felt something which made her feel warm and fuzzy inside.

She was being kissed.

Alas, the dream was not to last long. A violent shaking of her shoulder woke the tactician up, who had ended up going red in the face as she quickly remembered what had happened. "Robin, come on! We need to go to Arena Ferox, to see Basilio and Flavia! Apparently they went off ahead there yesterday!"

Lissa's voice made her grumble under her breath, as she never wanted to be woke up from that dream. But, if her duty called, she didn't really have much of an option. "Give me a few moments… About an hour's worth of moments… I'm not in the mood right now..."

"Too bad!" The princess grabbed Robin's hand, and forced her to sit up. Lissa could see that Robin was still half-asleep, and she must have had a good dream – a massive contrast to what the tactician had been complaining about as of late. "Plus, you've left your boyfriend waiting~"

"Frederick is not my boyfriend… How many times do I have to say that, Lissa? It's not like I say that you are going out with Gaius, I've seen how you're constantly talking together..." Robin growled, watching as Lissa failed to create a comeback. "Now, let me get dressed in peace… Tell everyone that I will meet with them in a minute."

Sulking, Lissa walked out of Robin's tent, and the tactician shook her head with a sigh when she grabbed hold of her shirt and coat. "Crazy princess… Frederick and I are not a couple..."

After a few minutes, she emerged in the snow and looked up at the grey clouds with a longing look on her face. She was hoping for some sort of snowstorm to delay them moving, and so that she could go back to sleep, and return to her dream. However, she knew that her wishes were likely not to be. Since when did weather ever comply to anyone's wishes?

Slowly, she trudged towards the centre of camp, aware that it was the chosen meeting place for if the Shepherds ever had to gather. With every step that she took, she kicked some snow forward, which is where she would then step next. Surprisingly, she found it quite relaxing to kick the snow, because she knew that it wouldn't blow into her face in a similar way to the Plegian sand.

What happened next was even more of a shock. A large gust of wind, bringing along masses of snow. "Wh- What?!"

"Robin! Quick, get out of the snow, apparently there is a snowstorm coming!" Frederick's voice calling out to her made her jump out of her skin. Just hearing that made her heart skip a beat. There was a snowstorm? After she had wished for one? It was as though the gods had heard her wishes. "Robin, did you even hear me?!"

The knight had to quickly grab hold of Robin's arms then, and shake her back to reality. "You don't want to suffer from hypothermia, do you?!"

"G- Gods, no!"

"Then get out of the snow!"

"You need to get out of it too!"

"I know! Just-!" The snow began to get even heavier then, and Robin was starting to shiver violently, before he had to quickly pull her into his tent, which was thankfully nearby. "Robin, what were you doing?… You didn't move, even when I told you about the snowstorm!"

"I was shocked… That's all..." She whispered, still dithering away inside her coat. Seeing that, Frederick grabbed hold of some blankets and threw them over her shoulders as he made her sit down. They knew that with just how heavy the snow was, they wouldn't be leaving the tent for a while. They were both glad that the tent was more than secure too, due to the heavy winds also.

Frederick didn't like seeing the tactician like this, shivering from the cold. He had been so worried about her, on account of her injuries and her fluctuating mental state, he had been close to asking Chrom if supervising her could become a permanent arrangement. He would endure all of Lissa's teasing and poking if it meant that he could return Robin to her pre-war state. He needed her optimism at times such as this.

"Robin… Can you smile for me?"

Suddenly, the tactician looked up at Frederick at his sudden request. "Is this you being selfish again?" And so, she smiled. Just knowing that Frederick found her smiling because he asked her to selfish made her want to smile even more.

With a smile back, the knight nodded. "Yes, I believe so… I hope that you do not mind-"

"Why would I mind smiling for you? I mean, I smile when around you anyway, so…" She laughed quietly, and shook her head. She wouldn't finish that sentence, she didn't want Frederick to feel as though he was never selfish. She knew that everyone needed to be selfish every once in a while. "It doesn't matter… Hah, It doesn't matter at all."

"That's good that you don't mind me asking… Because I need to do something else which is self-centred..."

"What is that?..."

"Oh, my apologies. I was talking to myself at that last part. Now, seeming as I have some time, I need to find something..."

"Want me to help?"

"No, you must warm up now." Frederick sounded extremely serious then, so Robin did as he said without saying no.

She began to then get lost in her thoughts as she pulled the blankets around her even more, not that she minded.

The blankets were extremely warm and soft, and they smelled extraordinarily clean. He must have washed them recently. He really must do more around camp than she had initially expected. And on top of that, the blankets were very roomy, they were large enough to probably have at least two people wrapped up in it.

She wouldn't mind if she were able to just grab hold of Frederick and pull him under the blanket too, just so that she could feel warmer…

And then she squealed, burying her head into the blankets.

Frederick looked up from where he was searching as Robin made that sound, and gave her a concerned look. "Are you okay? You're not feeling unwell, are you?"

"O- Oh, I'm fine… Anyway, aren't you finding your armour… Heavy? It might get in the way whilst you are trying to look for whatever you are trying to find..."

"Hmm… You are quite right there. What I am looking for is rather small after all… Gods, I have never lost something so easily before..."

Robin nodded, and watched as Frederick quickly removed the bulkier parts of his armour.

She had honestly never expected him to wear what looked like some sort of suit underneath all of that armour.

And gods, did she think that he looked good wearing that. Unfortunately, she ended up squealing again as she thought that. Her only method of action then was to pull the blankets over her head and mumble to herself.

"Robin, are you _sure_ that you are okay?"

She nodded, hoping that the knight could see the blankets move as she did so. He must have done, seeming as he didn't ask anything after that.

Frederick smiled as he looked at how Robin had retreated under the blankets, and chuckled quietly. He had noticed that Robin had been acting like this a lot around him recently, not that he minded. It was allowing her to be more open with him, and honesty between allies was definitely required at times such as this.

A few moments later, Frederick had caught sight of what he was looking for. He was glad that he had finally found it, as if he had lost it… He would never allow himself to live it down.

After that, he sat down beside the tactician and laughed as he could hear her mumbling.

"I never thought I would see the day where our tactician turned insane."

Suddenly, Robin pulled her head back out of the blankets and pouted. "I am most definitely not insane. I'm just annoyed that the cold is getting to my arm."

"Can I see your arm?…"

"Why?..."

"I want to see how your wrist is doing..."

Slowly, she pushed her arm out, and she used her other hand to pull the bandage off. The large wound had thankfully healed enough for it to be stitched up, rather than be tightly compressed to prevent it from splitting open any more. It had stopped bleeding too, which was a huge relief also. "Does it hurt still?…"

Robin went and wrapped the bandage back around her wrist, and shrugged. "Only when touched..."

Frederick nodded, so he refrained from touching it more than he had to.

After the silence, Robin yawned quietly. She was still tired from being abruptly woke up by Lissa before. "Hey… Um… Is the snow still heavy? It sounds it, doesn't it?..."

"I am going to make the assumption that it is. Anyway, are you tired? You can lie down in my bed, if you wish. I need to check my armour and make sure that it is sufficient enough to wear into battle… I do not wish to feel any more inadequate than I have been as of late..."

"Inadequate?..." Robin muttered, yawning as she decided to accept his offer and sit on his bed. "Gods, you are far from inadequate, Frederick… You saved my life, helped me whilst I tried to recover with my walking and fighting… You're keeping me sane… You saved me from getting buried in snow before… And that is only for me… Not anyone else… You're perfect – No, more than perfect as you are..." She smiled, before she lay down. "Anyone would be-" She cut herself off with a yawn. "lucky to have you help them as much as you helped me..."

"What was that?..." Frederick had missed the last part of what she was saying, due to her falling asleep as she spoke. "I couldn't hear you..."

Robin mumbled another inaudible response, before her eyes slowly drifted shut. There was no use in getting anything out of her now, with her being asleep.

"Gods, Frederick… You didn't even get time to finish that conversation with her..." He muttered to himself, before kneeling down beside his armour with a frown. "There are so many things that I need to talk to her about… Like whether she was sure about going back into combat as she has been doing so soon… Or… Ask what she was actually going to say then… without her falling asleep..."

* * *

"No, we can't get through to the other side of camp like this, most of our people are over there!" Chrom shouted, trying to keep snow out of his face. For three hours, the few members of the Shepherds who were not in the snowed In part of camp, thanks to being sheltered from the snow by trees, had been trying to get through to the rest of the camp.

"Who is over there anyway?" Lon'qu mumbled, looking at how the snow was now at least up to the same height as his ribs.

"Too many people…" Chrom sighed, before Ricken quickly ran over to Chrom with a piece of parchment.

"Sully and Cordelia have managed to get the list of people together now! Their names are all on here!"

"Gods… You aren't telling me that only the six of us are not snowed in?!"

Nowi then flew down, morphing back into her human form. "Nope, I can't get to the tents! Some have collapsed under snow too! Though, I believe that many people have assembled in the food tent. I could hear voices from there faintly…"

Chrom frowned, before shaking his head. "We can't leave with it only being us then..."

"D- Don't forget me!"

And then, everyone jumped out of their skin seeing Kellam stood there. "When did you escape from the snow!?" Nowi questioned curiously, and he sighed.

"I've been with you all since the snowstorm began..."

"Gods… At least we know that nobody got buried alive in the snow..."

* * *

It was at least three hours later, and Frederick was beginning to have his patience tested as he had to start lighting candles to provide light and a slight bit of warmth for the tent. Both he and Robin had basically been snowed inside now. Much more snow, and the tent would give way with them inside.

"This is dangerous now… Surely people would have started to have to try and recover those of us who cannot leave our tents..." He stated to himself, before hearing Robin stir.

She groggily sat up, and was shivering even under layers of blankets. "Hey there, Freddy Bear..." was the first thing that she muttered, before Frederick faintly smiled at her. She noticed very quickly that he was also starting to dither from the cold, so she silently stood up slowly, before sitting on the floor beside him, and pulled the blankets partially off her, just so that they could both be in warmth by pushing them over him too.

"Please… Never use that nickname again."

"Aww… Why not?..."

"I do not like it. It reminds me of that whole-"

"Bear meat situation? I know, that's why I chose that nickname." Robin laughed, before she nestled herself into Frederick's side. "I feel so cold..."

"I know… So do I..." Frederick whispered, holding her closer so that they could share more warmth.

"Who knew that snow could be so… Brutal?"

"Yes… But with you, it doesn't feel so bad."

"Really? That's sweet… How come you say that?"

"Because..." Frederick burst out laughing then, closing his eyes in the process. "I can not tell as to whether this is the snow getting to me, but-" He stopped then, and shook his head.

What _was_ he doing?

"Frederick, don't go quiet like that! I thought that you had suddenly gone into shock from the-!" Frederick had ended up cutting her off by tightening his grasp of her. He was shivering even more than her, and it just made her worried more than she had been previously. "Gods, are you okay?! This isn't like you!"

"I- I will be fine… I will be… More than fine. Thanks to you… I am in your debt..."

"Thanks to me? I haven't exactly done much-"

"No… You have done more than enough… Just with you talking to me, it is more than enough..."

"Oh… Really?… Well, I'm glad to be of service for talking to you!" She laughed quietly, having to pull even closer to him.

She was feeling scared though, the top of the tent was starting to cave in from the snow, and she didn't want to be buried under it without grabbing hold of something, and Frederick was the closest thing to her.

Frederick quickly became aware with how much more dire the situation was becoming, and he too kept Robin held close to him. He had never witnessed a Feroxi snowstorm so deadly in his life. So, to keep Robin's mind off it, he continued to talk to her...

* * *

"Gods, that is one of the worst places in Ferox for snowstorms! Are you all okay?" Flavia expressed her concerns for the Shepherds, seeing the state that some members were in. Some people were shivering under blankets, and others were expressing more concern for the animals which had been caught up in the snow.

With a sigh, Chrom looked at his allies and frowned. "We were too tired to move on… That's the only reason that we stayed there. At least we managed to recover everyone from the snowed in part of camp."

The entire afternoon of that day had been spent trying to locate everyone who had, unfortunately, been caught up in the worst of everything. Many people had managed to gather in only one or two tents – namely ones with food and warmth – and others had ended up trying to melt through the snow with tomes, and eventually broke free.

And then there was Frederick and Robin on their own, struggling not to be buried alive by snow. If it weren't for Nowi using her wings and Ricken using his wind tome blowing the snow away once the storm subsided a bit, that would have probably been the case. What shocked people though, was that they had only managed to get away with a bit of a chill.

At the side of the room, a few of the Shepherds had gathered and were having a very 'serious' conversation.

"So, Robin, why were you holding onto him when we found you?" Nowi cheekily questioned, poking the tactician in the cheek as she flushed red.

"W- We were cold! There was no warmth in there whatsoever!"

"Uh huh. And why are you hiding your hand, Robin?" Cordelia had noticed the sudden action of the tactician, which had straight away come off as suspicious. "Is there something about your hand that you don't want us to see?"

Quickly, Robin went into 'panic mode'. "I'm not hiding anything! Never have been hiding anything, never will!" She folded her arms then, and turned away quickly. "A- Anyway, if I were to hide anything, I- I wouldn't hide it from you!"

Lissa, however, knew exactly what was up with Robin. "I think that I know what has happened today! I bet… _He asked you to marry him._ I saw that ring on your hand before, when we were on our way here!" The princess smugly smiled at her then, before it turned into a face of pure happiness. "It's about time that Frederick found someone other than me and Chrom to dote over! Though…. I'm kinda jealous! It means that I have to do more things by myself, without his help..." The smile quickly fell then, and Lissa sighed deeply. Just the idea of not having Frederick constantly trying to keep her out of harm's way worried her a bit.

Now, that shocked Robin greatly. Her initial reaction would be that she would face Lissa's teasing for as long as she would ever live. And that wasn't the case at all. Knowing that, the woman slowly unfolded her arms, and then looked at her hand with a sigh. "You know… Frederick doesn't know much about romance. At all. Absolutely nothing like those romance novels that Sumia requested I read..."

"Ooooh, what happened?! Come on, you need to tell us now that you have brought that up!"

"Um… I probably shouldn't… Chrom said that he would need me at any-!"

"You're telling us, Robin. Even if we have to force it out of you."

Gods, did Robin not really want to say any more than she had done… But she had no choice. "Ugh...Fine."

* * *

After a few more minutes of talking to Robin to try and keep her mind off the tent possibly collapsing in on them at any moment, Frederick decided that maybe he should explain as to why he felt as though he had to explain about what he was looking for previously. "You know what I was looking for before?… Well, I needed to find it because I made a promise to myself yesterday… I swore that if we ever got time alone, preferably today… I would offer you… this."

Robin had to carefully look at what Frederick had hold of, before her eyes filled up with confusion. "Huh? A ring?… But why?" It took a few more moments for Robin to realise what Frederick was really wanting to say, it being made more obvious upon his face turning a flustered red. And as much as Robin wanted to point out that the knight looked too damn handsome when flustered like that, she just couldn't think of the right words.

"I… Have fallen in love with you, Robin… At first, I passed off people such as Lissa saying that I loved you as talking nonsense… But I realise that it is much less nonsense now..."

"Wh- What?!" Robin gasped as she shivered, before she too went red in the face. "I did not see this coming… At all… You are serious about this?..."

"More than anything… It is just that… I thought that once you had recovered fully, we would have no reason to spend so much time together..." Frederick looked up, and realised that he would have to say what he wanted to quickly. The top of the tent was at the verge of tearing and giving way under the pressure. "And I cannot bear the thought of leaving your side for long, Robin… It did not take me long to realise that I had no other choice but to confess to you… Well… As a matter of fact, I have been wanting to say this to you ever since you helped me with my phobia of eating bear meat..."

"I… don't know what to say… Well, other than wanting to tell a girl that you love her after you manage not to upchuck a mouthful of bear?… It's probably the most unromantic thing I have ever heard!"

"W- Well… Yes, but-"

"Oh, don't worry yourself, Frederick! I've been in love with you for a while now too..." She laughed quietly, holding onto him to tightly so that she could feel the warmth of his body more than she previously had done, before closing her eyes with a smile.

"Gods, there's that smile again… But you will do me a great honour, milady… You will not regret this, I swear to you..." Robin laughed again, quickly taking hold of the hand which he had been holding onto the ring with for the whole time. Frederick quickly took that as an opportunity to smile back at her, and then kiss her hand gently. "My heart is yours, milady… I vow to protect you as a knight, and also as a husband, until death should part us..."

Robin could feel her heart pounding then, and she felt too flustered to say anything after that. Gods, she had never really thought of Frederick as the romantic type, and this had proved that he was barely just capable of it. It was adorable, the way that he was trying to be romantic though. As a matter of fact, she loved this side of him just as much as his knightly side.

And gods, the sudden kiss afterwards… It made her feel almost exactly as her dream had done previously. It was one of the only good things which had come from the snowstorm.

Moments later though, some of the top of the tent tore, and snow fell down behind them, quickly piling up and taking up a lot of space.

"Ack-! Oh gods… We're in trouble now… We're in so much trouble..."

"Robin, stop panicking!" Frederick then quickly pulled her into a corner of the tent, still keeping a firm grasp of her and her hand.

However, Robin was barely able to process what he was saying.

 _Does this all mean that… Our final moments before getting buried alive were the ones where we confessed our love?… Would it have all been for nothing?…_

* * *

"Wait… He confessed to you to stop you from thinking about you possibly getting caught under the snow? No wonder you didn't want to stay away from him until me and Ricken managed to get rid of all of it and got you two back to the others!" Nowi grinned, finding the short story which Robin had told cute. As a matter of fact, Cordelia and Lissa found the story just as cute.

"Hah, time to tease Frederick over him wanting to marry you over bear meat-!"

"Do that, and I will tell Gaius about your own secret stash of candy that you are trying to keep away from him."

"H- How do you know that!?"

"I'm the tactician. All that I need to say. Now… I really don't want to talk about this any more… I never really wanted anyone to know until the war is over… And if Chrom finds out about this too..." Gods, the tactician didn't want to think about what would happen. Chrom was a slight bit protective of her, but not to the extent of Frederick. Either way, if he knew… She and Frederick would be getting interrogated. A lot. "So, until this war is over, and we have won… I am just a tactician, and he is just a knight. Allies, and nothing more."

From the corner of her eyes, she could see Frederick stood there, smiling and nodding at what she had said. It seemed as though he had heard everything that had been said. And then, he pointed to his mouth.

She got what he was trying to say.

Well, it was a common theme in their conversations – verbal and non-verbal by that point.

He was telling her to smile.

* * *

 **Yeah... I wanted to add the confession in this chapter. I get a bit _too_ into this ship at times. **

**By the way, I want to ask a question about the way in which this story goes... Do you guys want me to write so that Morgan is included at a later point, or do I make it the original timeline, where the children don't appear? Because I do have ideas for each way, but I wish to leave it to the readers to decide!**

 **Anyway...I hope that you are all willing to review!**


	4. Not so sweet blackmail

**So, I have decided to post yet another chapter... The fourth chapter in under a week... Wow...** **Anyway, I'm still wanting a few more opinions about the question I asked at the end of last chapter! I've got a few PMs about it, and I also have a poll about it set up on my profile.**

 **Now, just a quick note. Let's just say... Some steamy moments between Frederick and Robin are implied in this chapter. I may start adding more and more moments like it, but not just implied in the future, but I'll leave that all up to you guys.**

 **Seeming as my mini ramble is over now... I hope that you all enjoy!**

* * *

To the side. To the other side. Duck down.

It was more than easy to read Chrom's actions in training for Frederick. He would constantly swing his sword in the same three directions, every so often switching the order of each. Sometimes, he would try to jump up and catch the knight off-guard, but moving to the side was enough to avoid that attack.

"Gods, Frederick! How can you keep dodging my attacks like that?" Chrom sighed, planting the tip of his sword into the ground as he look a break. He was exhausted from his inaccurate attacks.

The knight stood his lance up, and laughed quietly. "You use the same attacks over and over – after training with you since you were thirteen, it is quite easy to read your actions."

"You make it sound as though you are much older than me! Need I remind you that you only have two years on me?"

"My apologies if it sounded as though I was trying to infer such thoughts. I was simply implying that it has been quite a few years since we started to train like this." Frederick sighed, before chuckling quietly. Had he actually been training with Chrom to help him fight for five years?

But either way, the prince's words hung over his head. Did he actually act as though he was much older than he currently was? Chrom was only eighteen after all, and as he said, he was only two years older. Lissa had implied such similar things too in the past, saying that he seemed as though he was a few years older than just twenty.

"Milord… I need to go for now."

"How come? You said that we had an hour to be able to train-"

"I need to see Robin."

"Robin? But- Oh… He's gone. Gods, nothing can stop that knight when he gets his mind set on something..." The prince laughed, picking up the sword which he had borrowed from the convoy to practise with, before deciding to return it. Though… He was confused. Why did he need to see Robin so suddenly? Chrom wouldn't let it bother him for long though, other things needed to be his priority now that the Shepherds had returned to Plegia – this time to kill the king.

"I have to do this… For what he did to Emm..."

* * *

"Hmm… So, if we split out our units into three sections… One group could intercept the wyvern brigades which are gathering to the west – our east – and take them out. It would only have to be a small group, they can wait to ambush them from the abandoned forts…" Robin nodded to herself in satisfaction with her plan, and quickly made note of it in a scruffy looking notebook which was resting on her desk. Ever since she was fully reassured that the Shepherds did trust her, and weren't going to tease her for her feelings towards Frederick, she had been much more optimistic about her plans to dethrone the mad king.

Taking a sip of some tea, she then crossed her left leg over her right and began to tap the foot still on the ground. "Our second group would also have to be small, to slip through the Plegian ranks and get direct access to Gangrel… I have no choice but for that to be me and Chrom, as we would need our healers in the brunt of everything to heal those attacking the Plegian ranks, and our mounted units would be too noisy, they would get too much attention if they went to that stupid king… Plus… Both me and Chrom have out own bones to pick with that bastard..." She muttered, writing what she said down, word for word, in the notepad too.

That was when she closed her eyes, and yawned. "I've been working on this plan for about an hour now… Can thinking really make me so tired so quickly?… It never used to..." She whispered, resting her head on the plan for a moment. "A short nap… won't bother anyone..."

Closing her eyes, it didn't take long for Robin to slip into a sleep-like state. She could hear any little nearby movements, and could feel the warmth of the flame of her candle suddenly vanish. It must have blew out.

Moments later, there was a slight bit of movement near the entrance of her tent, and there was a sigh. "She's asleep… But she can injure her back, falling asleep like that..." The voice trailed off as her sleep became suddenly deeper, and her awareness of things around her started to fade away, allowing her to dream peacefully.

The person who had walked in? Frederick, of course. He had to see if Robin was okay, seeming as nobody in camp had seen her since the morning. "… She's been planning a lot… Reading too. She shouldn't have done so much, she could have strained herself to the point of injury..." He muttered, picking her up from her seat gently. He didn't want to wake her up, after all… But at the same time, he _wanted_ her awake, Just to hear her voice, feel her gentle touch, see her _smile._

That was the reason that he had wanted to visit her, over training with Chrom. Since being told that he sounded as though he were older than he actually happened to be, he wanted to find a way to feel just… A bit more carefree.

And he wanted _her help specifically_ to help him feel that way. It couldn't be anyone else. Sure, Lissa had been showing him how to relax, but he couldn't properly unless he was with Robin.

Holding onto the tactician's lightly sleeping figure gave the man various reminders at how much more fragile she was than what she seemed. Her figure was so slim, and her body light. And gods, her legs were the worst offenders in that of them all.

It took him all of his might not to think that he was to be the only one who could ever see just how beautiful her figure really could be – though he was unaware of a particular bathing tent incident where Chrom had seen her naked, but he didn't have to hear about that. Ever. Robin would never allow herself or the prince to live it down if he did.

Slowly, Frederick sat down on her bed, still holding onto her tightly. He didn't know what to do with her like this. Should he just leave her here to sleep, and go do something else? But if she woke up if he did this… He wouldn't be able to talk to her as soon as possible. That's what he wanted.

Gods, how he had never felt this greedy before in his life. He was desperately wanting things… It was so strange that it had only been happening since he confessed his love to Robin. Want this, want that. No in-between – he wouldn't settle properly until he got what he wanted, even if it was just a smile that he did want.

This woman was changing almost everything about his character that he had built up over years in mere weeks.

"Crafty thing… To think, I was hostile towards her at first, wanting to eliminate her if she did anything out of line… And now, I'm in love..." Robin then suddenly pulled herself closer to him as he said that, making the knight laugh at how she just had to be comfortable in her sleep. "Have a good rest, Robin..."

* * *

What a fortunate time for Robin to wake up, and realise that it was the middle of the night. She had become fed up as it was with the cold climate of Ferox, so now having to return to Plegia, and have it be just as cold at night? It irritated her beyond belief.

However, there was some comfort to her. Warm arms secured around her waist made her feel as though she was safe from the danger of the temperature. "Wait one second… Arms around my waist?..." The tactician then opened her eyes fully, and noticed that lying asleep right beside her was Frederick. Well, it was more as though she could feel, than see. She was pulled up against him, and she could feel his warm breath on her neck. With the added matter that they had ended up under the same blanket, presumably because Frederick knew that it would be cold at night, Robin could only feel flustered.

It felt rather intimate to her, and they _had_ promised that they would try and keep things down low – Cordelia, Lissa, and Nowi also being forced into secrecy about them – until Gangrel had fallen…

And now, they were like this.

Gods, it felt so strange, but wow… It felt so right for the woman. She knew that she had never had such an overwhelming feeling through her body before, but she got used to the feeling quickly.

There was only one thing though… She needed to finish her plan, and she had until sunrise to complete it and show it to Chrom. So, she had to find a way to get the knight to let go of her… But without waking him up. A difficult task.

Ever so carefully, she moved the arm over her to behind her, trying not to make any sudden movements. That was done successfully. The next part was the difficult part. Trying not to be noisy as she got out of bed, as she was aware of the piles of books and various other belongings around the tent on the floor.

Her coat was the main reason behind her tripping up moments after standing up.

"Ah! Gods, that hurt my wrist!" She hissed out loud, trying to gently hold onto the bandaged part of her arm. It was too sore for her to cope with, having just woke up, so she just hit the floor with her other hand with a closed fist.

And hit a book. "Ow… Not my other hand..."

"Robin… What are you doing?..."

The tired voice of Frederick made Robin sigh deeply as she tried not to complain about the pain. "I… Fell asleep mid-plan… I need to finish it."

"You're tired though… And by the looks of things, hurt too..."

"I have until sunrise. I need to get it done."

"No, you're not. I can buy you some time in the morning."

Robin shook her head as she stood up, and then looked at her wrist with a small whimper. The way in which she had hit the floor had managed to split open her wound even more, and it had started to bleed again, thankfully only lightly. However, the sight of blood on her body now was starting the make her panic a bit, in worry that she would end up in a situation like the other week again.

She completely ignored Frederick telling her to try and go back to sleep, and sat down at her desk. "You always do work when we tell you not to… So I feel as though I should do the same too..." She muttered, before she decided to light a candle which was next to her. After that, she re-opened her battered notebook."It won't take long anyway-!"

Frederick had suddenly grabbed hold of her from behind, and she could feel one of his arms reach past her to close the book. He didn't want her planning. Not right now.

"If you won't go back to bed… I will make you, Robin." He suddenly pulled her up to her feet, and looked at her wrist. "Plus, you shouldn't be doing anything with that wrist. You should really get Lissa, Maribelle or Libra to look at it properly, over you tending to it yourself." That was when he wrapped his arms around her fully, not allowing her to pull away and try to continue working on her strategy. "I don't want you straining yourself, Robin… I would feel responsible if you collapsed with exhaustion on the battlefield, or if you fell asleep in the middle of one of the war council meetings."

Robin couldn't think of a response to that. She _knew_ that he was right… But she also knew that she had to get that plan done. "But… But..."

He shook his head, and ran his hand through her hair as he pulled her closer, so that she could feel his breath against her neck. "No buts, Robin. You still sound tired now..." As she went to shake her head, she felt as though she had… Been through this before. But she hadn't, not from what she could remember.

His grasp of her tightened as she tried to look back at her desk, and his hand settled in one place behind her head. "Robin, you can't do this to yourself…" And then, he kissed her gently, showing his concern for her welfare as he kept hold of her.

Then she realised. This was exactly like the dream that she had the other day… Well, the dream didn't have talking in, but it was just like it, happening in the same way even.

"Fine… Fine, you've persuaded me… But you had better get me that extra time in the morning that you mentioned earlier..." Robin whispered once she felt Frederick loosen his grasp of her, before she closed her eyes and began to tear up.

"Robin?… Robin, what's the matter?"

* * *

"Bubbles. You're keeping a secret from me, aren't you? No, two. You're keeping two secrets from me." Gaius had been pestering Robin for about twenty minutes by that time, and frankly, she was getting annoyed at it.

She shook her head, holding onto her notebook tightly. "Can you just let me go and see Chrom, Gaius?"

"Nope." The thief pulled the lollipop out of his mouth, and waved it around near Robin's face, making her wince as his saliva went all over the place.

"You're disgusting… Surely you could have finished the candy before waving it around like that?"

"Again, nope."

Quickly, Gaius snatched the book from the tactician's hands and began to flick through the pages, looking at her various different plans from the past, and her plan for the fight against Gangrel that afternoon. "Gods, Bubbles. Do you ever actually have any spare time? You're like that nanny. Oh wait, I bet it's because of the amount of time that you spend with-" He suddenly spotted a page of interest to him then. "Oh… Now what do we have here? Some of Bubbles' dirty secrets?"

Robin twitched as Gaius said that out loud, before trying to snatch the book back. Yes, the front of the book was full to the brim with plans… But due to her limited amount of gold, she was having to use the back of the book as some sort of diary, just in case her amnesia became worse and she lost her new memories also. And as Gaius had said… Some things which she had wrote in there were highly private. Not exactly 'dirty', but still private.

Gods, she had even wrote about the time in which she had accidentally walked in on Chrom as he bathed almost after he had walked into her; the similar bathing situation with Gaius himself; the pranks that she and Lissa had pulled on each other… And also about everything that had happened between her and Frederick, from the bear meat situation, to the proposal, and even that night…

And then her eyes grew wide. If Gaius had read about what had happened that night…

"Now, this is juicy..."

"Wh- What are you reading?! J- Just give it back, I need to show Chrom the plan for later! You don't want to _die,_ do you?!"

"So, you and the nanny, huh? And wow, the details that you went into about his body from- Hah, last night? Now, this is definitely worth letting Princess know for some candy…" The thief snickered, before he went to walk away with the book.

Robin had to quickly come up with a last resort, and fortunately, it came to her quickly enough. "You don't want me to tell anyone about your mark, do you?!"

And so, the thief froze on the spot. Robin didn't want to blackmail him as such, but if he went and opened his mouth about this to Lissa… She didn't even want to think about it.

Quickly, Gaius went back over to the tactician, and grabbed her chin, pulling her face close to his. "Now, look here, Robin..." She could tell that Gaius was serious about what he was saying – he had used her actual name, not a nickname – and the bitter tone of his voice adding to his genuine irritation. "That is _over_ now. I've paid you back for you not to say a word about that, so you had better not tell _anyone._ Or maybe, I will just tell them your secret. You don't want the rest of the camp to know about your experience with Frederick last night, do you?" The sickly sweet smell of Gaius' breath was making her wince. The threat was also making her worry.

"G- Give the book back..."

"You know what? Nope. I'm keeping hold of this now. You have a good enough memory to tell Blue your plan without this shoddy book." He mumbled, before letting go of her face and quickly leaving the tactician stood there, paralysed in shock.

Gaius had never been so aggressive towards her before, and it was scary. Never before had she ever felt so scared of an ally. Even more than she was scared of Tharja.

And gods, was Tharja scary to her.

She stood there shaking for a few minutes, until she felt a hand on her shoulder. "There you are, Robin! I've been looking for you for a while now! I need to know your-" It was Chrom who was there, but he was hardly a reassuring presence for the tactician. Not after what had just happened. "Robin?… You look as though you have seen a ghost..."

"N- No… I'm fine..."

"Something isn't right with you… You should sit down for a minute-"

"I said that I am FINE!"

"R- Robin! I was just saying-!"

"S- Sorry… It's just… Bad night's sleep, okay?..."

Chrom gave his tactician a worried look as she slowly decided to use her coat to hide her face, by pulling her hood up. "Come on… What is it that you and Frederick seem to keep saying to each other? Smile, is it?..."

"That only really works with Frederick… And maybe you should ask him about the plan… He was with me as I finished it off, he should know it… I'm not in the mood..."

"No. I need to hear it from you-"

"Why?!"

"Because… I can only trust my tactics from you, Robin… You've always helped up pull through, and I don't want to fail now… You're the tactician. The Shepherds' tactician. _My_ tactician. We are all relying on you… So I can only trust the plan from you..."

Reluctantly, Robin looked down at the ground and shrugged her shoulders. "Fine then…"

"Good. Now come on, we don't have much time left to prepare..."

* * *

It was finally time for the final assault on the Plegian army. There was just Gangrel, and his few remaining loyal lackeys left now. They weren't much of a big deal to the Shepherds, despite being outnumbered.

"Okay… Lon'qu, Tharja, Ricken, Nowi and… Libra. You all head to our east. Wyverns are approaching us from there. The plan is to hide in the abandoned forts and ambush them!" Robin shouted from where she was stood with Chrom, holding a sword, ready for the final fight. She had finally managed to get her plan memorised – even without her book, which Gaius was still holding hostage – and was now calling out the instructions to the Shepherds who didn't know the plan. "Chrom is sticking with me, and we are going to slip through the remaining Plegian forced to get Gangrel. Everyone else, keep them off us! If anything does happen to me or Chrom, Frederick, you need to step in to fight Gangrel next – just without your horse. Lissa, you must also go with him for healing backup for whichever of me or Chrom are ailed. If he falls too, we retreat."

The Shepherds were evidently feeling quite uneasy, knowing that this would be all or nothing. They would either win the war, and Ylisse would be safe… Or they lose their leaders, lose their country and the war too.

One thing which was constantly in the corner of her eye though… Was Gaius. He was casting her vaguely angry looks every so often, yet at times, they were playful looks. He was evidently trying to make her regret even trying to use her last resort earlier.

"Right then… Here come the Plegians! Get ready!" Chrom the shouted out, drawing Falchion from its sheath and grinning at Robin. He was ready for this… So it made her feel more ready than Gaius was trying to allow her be.

She did, however, cast a few worried glanced towards Frederick before the fighting began, so as a reassurance, he smiled at her. Lissa giggled at that, just for Cordelia to hit her over the head to make her pay attention, and not draw any focus towards Robin and Frederick's relationship.

And so, the fighting began. Chrom quickly gestured for Robin to follow him, after spotting Gangrel about half-way down the newly designated battlefield. The two worked well as a pair – it was evident in how well they were able to read each other's actions because of how much they had fought and trained together in the past.

There was only one small thing which nobody had seen coming though… Gangrel had more reinforcements than expected.

As a blade swung by Robin's face, Chrom quickly used Falchion to hold it off as Robin then went in for the kill. It had been about the third time over the past few minutes. As she pulled her sword back, Robin quickly turned around and gasped. "Chrom! Look out!"

The prince jumped out of his skin at Robin's yell, before seeing her quickly get in the way of an arrow directed right for him. It pierced her directly in the shoulder, and she winced in pain as she quickly pulled it out. "U- Ugh… Blood… I don't like the sight of my own blood..." she mumbled, using her opposite hand – the one with her injured wrist – to try and compress the wound and stem the bleeding.

"Robin! Do you want me to get Lissa or Maribelle?!"

"N- No… I should be- Gods, they're attacking again!" Chrom had to then quickly swing Falchion to cut the arrows as they flew towards them to stop them in their tracks, and then went to attack the archers which had appeared at Gangrel's command. Unfortunately, he had also got pieced by an arrow in his hand just as he finished the archer off. "These Plegians… They're… Playing dirty..."

"Just like a certain tactician we all know and, in some cases, love."

The sudden voice made the injured pair jump out of their skin. "Gaius! Shouldn't you be helping the others?!" was all that Chrom could respond with.

"Yep. But nope. I need to have a word with Bubbles."

"Not now! We're hurt, and Plegian soldiers are coming out of-!"

"Shut up, Blue. This is between me and her."

"If this is to do with what happened before, I'm sorry, okay?! But now isn't the time for-!"

"You should really use your tome. Gangrel has a Levin sword. He can attack you with magic from a distance using it. All that I wanted you to know, Bubbles. I'm talking to you about before _after_ the battle though."

Robin was shocked at that. How did Gaius know this piece of valuable information? But now wasn't the time for asking questions – it was the time for action. She nodded her thanks, before tucking her sword into her coat and pulling out her tome.

It was quite evidently a new tome also – obviously Frederick's doing. That made her smile, knowing that he had been looking out for her when they were preparing for battle.

Moments later, Robin suddenly noticed that Gaius had gone back into the middle of the battle to the left, and she sighed as Chrom went and nudged her arm, trying not to move his torso much. "Robin… I'm wondering… Could you possibly distract Gangrel with your magic, so that I could get close and kill him?"

"Huh?… Oh… Yes. Yes, that could work out better than our current plan..."

So, Robin quickly ran as far forward as she could as soon as she could, as Gaius had managed to also get Lissa to go over to the two and heal them as much as she could to prevent their wounds from becoming as bad as Robin's wrist. As Robin did this, Chrom was fighting with anyone that tried to hinder her progress towards the mad king. Lissa, out of worry for her brother, decided to tag along too.

As soon as Robin was in position, she gave Chrom the thumbs up to carefully get behind Gangrel to kill him, whilst she created a distraction.

"So… Surprised to see me? I bet you're surprised that I survived you sending assassins after me a few weeks ago..." she shouted, casting a glare at the Plegian king as he turned to face her. He was annoyed that she was the one who was trying to face him.

He was expecting Chrom, _not_ her. "Hah, as if I care! You will all be dead by the end of this, so what does it matter about you being alive _now_?!"

"A hell of a lot..." Robin quickly growled back, getting ready with her tome.

And so, the violent throwing of magic began.

There was one thing concerning Robin about the magic from Gangrel's sword though… When it came into contact with her, it felt as sharp as a blade. She had no choice but to keep avoiding it as she used her tome, or else it would put Chrom and Lissa in trouble, as he would then see them trying to get close to him. They had, after all, got caught up to by a few more Plegian soldiers.

"Gods… This is going to take a while..."

* * *

"It's over! Finally!" Lissa grinned about twenty minutes later. Yes, the battle had been won… Robin and Chrom were both bleeding quite a bit, on account of the way in which Gangrel had been attacking them until his bitter end. As a matter of fact, everyone _but_ Lissa was bleeding because of how rough their battles had been.

Robin fell to her knees and began laughing quite a bit, almost maniacally, because of how much she was worried that the plan wouldn't have worked.

Everyone looked at the tactician as she did that, before they too also burst out laughing. It was quite funny, the way in which they could see Robin turning a bit insane through happiness. Especially to Frederick.

He hadn't been able to see Robin since that morning other than when they all had assembled on the battlefield, and he had no idea about everything which had been on her mind that day.

"So… Now that's over… Who wants to hear something delicious?" Gaius' voice rung out over the rest, and it quickly made everyone shut up. Robin was staring at him with wide eyes. "You'll never guess what our dear tactician Bubbles and the wary nanny were up to this morning..."

* * *

 **Oh, Gaius...**

 **Anyway, I don't have much to say now, other than please tell me your opinions on the story's timeline, or else I will get stuck in a few chapters' time!**

 **So, I hope that you are all willing to review!**


	5. Before the return to Ylisse

**So, it has been decided, and there will be the future children in the story later on, probably in three or four chapters' time.**

 **Anyway, since last chapter, I've been asked a few questions about this story, so if they were sent over PM, I've answered them, but as well as that, I've decided to publicly answer some of them here. The main one being "Why is this story rated M?" That was actually explained at the beginning of last chapter, but I will reiterate it now. This story contains references to sex, and may actually contain it every so often. As well as that, I have quite a bit of violence planned out in a few of the later chapters, notably during the Valm conquest and fights against the Grimleal part of the Awakening storyline. B) Anyway, the next question I was asked was "Will there be any other couples in the story, just in the background?" And the answer is yes. For this story, there are three couples that I have decided upon so far. Lissa and Gaius, Cordelia and Stahl (that is going to become more evident in later chapters) and also Chrom and Sumia.**

 **Now, I should probably stop rambling and get on with the chapter~**

* * *

"No… No sign of the three of them anywhere..." Sumia muttered as she met up with Chrom and Lissa, who were starting to get worried.

After Gaius had decided to tell _everyone_ about everything that had happened between Robin and Frederick, Robin had gone and ran off somewhere because she was that upset that he did that. Frederick quickly went to find her, but he hadn't been seen since. Gaius ended up slinking off somewhere whilst this was happening, so they couldn't question him as to why he did that.

"I'm not surprised that Robin was so upset though… Only me, Cordelia and Nowi knew about her and Frederick! And we were told not to tell anyone! I don't know how Gaius found-!"

"Maybe… Maybe that's why Robin was acting so strange before when I asked her about her plan… Gaius must have found out, and maybe said that he would let it slip..." Chrom mumbled, before shaking his head with a sigh. He was worried about Robin and Frederick. Yes, he was initially shocked at the nature of their relationship so soon… But he was happy for them. He didn't want them thinking that he – or anyone else – would stop trusting them over what the candy loving thief had done.

As well as that… One other thing was on everyone's minds.

What was Gaius' motive to do that in front of everyone? Surely he had a reason…

"Come on… We should keep looking for them..."

* * *

Meanwhile, Robin was sobbing as she sat underneath a tree near a small body of water, which she was surprised to have found in the middle of Plegia. "Stupid… I'm so stupid… I should have just saved up some more gold and got myself a book more private… That, or I could have found a way to put a magic seal on it..." She muttered, hugging her knees as she tried not to be too loud, or else she would probably draw attention to herself. She didn't want any attention – especially with how humiliated that she felt.

Slowly, she took off her coat, just so that she could look at the injury on her wrist after unwrapping the bandage. "… Maybe now… This dumb thing can heal..." She poked at it a moment, before wincing. One thing which Robin had forgotten was the pain which she experienced when anything touched it. "It's been what, two, three weeks now?… It's better than it was… Thankfully it hasn't got infected because of how often me and Frederick have tended to it..."

That then led to her crying. She just wanted to forget everything now, all because of Gaius. She had just gone and spent a year earning everyone's trust, just for it to all be threw away in under a minute.

At least that was what she thought.

"Was it even worth building up trust-? Gods, why am I thinking like this?! Of course it was… I've never been happier… I just shouldn't have been so stupid to have wrote everything down!" She grabbed her coat again, and threw it over her wrist to prevent sand getting into her wound. "Damn amnesia! Why can't I just remember my-?!"

Her sudden yelling made her head hurt, and a familiar event then played through her head.

Of course it was her nightmare from just before Chrom, Lissa and Frederick had found her in the field…

The thing is, she had suddenly slumped down unconscious into the sand as she re-witnessed the nightmare. That happened every time that she had gone through it.

No wonder she was unconscious when she was found initially in Ylisse.

The same part of the nightmare always got to her every time. Her vision turning bloodshot… Head throbbing… Electricity crackling through her body as she grasped her tome… And Chrom telling her that it wasn't her fault and to escape as he collapsed to the ground, in the cold grasp of death.

* * *

At the same time as Robin collapsing, Frederick was desperately trying to find both Robin and Gaius. Robin to try and comfort her, Gaius to lecture him about invading people's privacy (though at times, Frederick was one to speak, especially when it came to Chrom and Lissa's lives) and telling others about other people's private lives.

Frederick was just so worried about Robin, with the way in which she burst into tears when Gaius had told everyone about what had happened between the two of them that night; and also with the way in which she had ran off yelling at everyone to leave her alone. But he couldn't leave her alone, not in this state. Over the past few weeks, he had seen just how unstable Robin was mentally due to her injuries and what had happened to Emmeryn, so he needed to find a way in which to locate her, and keep her calm…

He would feel as though he would have failed as a knight for her yet again if he were unable to do that…

"Hey, um… You're looking for her, aren't you?..."

That voice instantly made Frederick's insides churn with anger.

Almost instantly, he turned around and grabbed hold of the Gaius' shirt and glared at him. "What business do you have, talking to me after what you did to Robin, thief?! If anything has happened to her, you will be held fully-!"

"I know, I know! Geez, nanny… I get that I shouldn't have done that! I just wanted to help you find her so I could apologise! And to give her book back to her!" Gaius was in a panic with the way in which Frederick had grabbed hold of him and was burning holes into his skull with how harsh his glare was. One thing was definite for him – he was doomed when they would eventually manage to find Robin, and Frederick would most definitely be the source of this doom, Robin possibly also having a thing to do with it.

The knight was unsure as to whether he would be able to trust the thief after what he had done to Robin. _His_ Robin. "If you insist on helping me to find her, then fine. But afterwards, do not even dare try slipping away, or else _I will_ hunt you down for what you did." And he was sticking to his word. He genuinely would hunt Gaius if he tried running away.

The threat was enough for Gaius to gulp, and nod that he would help find her. He did not want to get hurt in any way.

And then, things worked out much to Frederick's convenience. Chrom, Lissa and Sumia had caught up to them in their own search, and better yet, they had an idea as to where Robin could be.

"Yes. I did hear shouting about 'damn amnesia' somewhere to the north, not too far from here, and Robin the only amnesiac we know!" Sumia explained, before stroking her pegasus gently on the head. "It was near some trees, and a rather small lake..."

Gaius suddenly snapped to attention hearing that. "I remember seeing Sunshine over there before, and doesn't Sunshine try to… Stalk Bubbles? So yeah, Stumbles is probably right."

"Now, without the stupid nicknames?" Frederick was simply not in the mood for Gaius to be using these nicknames, despite the fact that it was easy to catch on as to who he was talking about. After all, he had seen Tharja following Robin around quite a bit as of late…

"Frederick, calm down! He's only trying to help-!" Lissa exclaimed, quickly getting cut off by the knight in his frustration of wanting to find Robin.

"I do not appreciate his help. He has helped _enough._ "

"Frederick, maybe you should take a break from looking for Robin..."

* * *

"Wake up, Robin..."

The sudden voice in such a hushed tone was enough to wake the tactician up out of nothing but fear. It was a new voice, yet held some familiarity. "Ugh...Wha-?… Oh gods, Tharja?!"

Seeing the dark mage almost right up in her face made Robin shriek, before she began grumbling to herself.

"As much as I loved watching you sleep…" Tharja laughed creepily, before grabbing hold of some of Robin's hair and scarily enough, smelling it. "You're being looked for..."

Robin was too scared to respond. Having Tharja _smell_ her hair was creepy. No, _**very**_ creepy. Nobody – from what she could remember – had _ever_ done something such as that before. And gods, did she not want it to happen again. "C- Can you… Leave me a- alone?…

"As you wish… But you will not be able to keep me away from you for long, Robin..." And so, the dark mage left, leaving Robin in the sand with a terrified look on her face. The others may not trust her… But Tharja seemed to trust her too much. A little _too much._

Slowly, the tactician lowered her head back into the sand, remembering that her coat was draped over her arm to protect her injury as she felt the material against her skin. And then, she began to shiver.

'Shivering… _In Plegia?… What is going on? It's not night-!'_

Robin was mid-thought when she realised that someone new had approached her, and was stood over her. "In jest of milord… There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know?..."

There was nothing but a sigh from the woman then, before she closed her eyes. "Yeah… It doesn't sound right when you say that, Frederick… Anyway, why are you here? I'm surprised that you aren't… I don't know, killing Gaius. Or avoiding me." was all that she could mumble, before crying.

"I… I have chose to avoid the others, over avoiding you. I was with some of them until a few minutes ago, but with Gaius there, I can not control my temper..."

Robin made a small 'hmph' sound, before she closed her eyes with a sigh. "That actually surprises me… I would have thought that-"

"That I did not love you? You are dearly mistaken if you believe that is the case..." The tone of Frederick's voice just did not sound right to her… Was he lying? Was there something else on his mind? "Robin, I can tell exactly what you are thinking… I am not telling a lie. I love you, and no matter what that buffoon dares say about what what we have done to every living soul, I could not love you any less."

That was… sweet. She hadn't been expecting Frederick to say something like that… "Even though… He let it slip to everyone that we… Um..." She was still finding it hard to get over what had happened that morning anyway, but knowing that the whole camp – no, the whole army – knew that she and Frederick were in a romantic relationship already with some sexual activity in it… She wasn't sure about whether she could ever get over that.

The silence from Frederick put her on edge. She still had her eyes closed too, so she couldn't try and use her lessons from Stahl about reading people's facial expressions to see what he was feeling, or even thinking.

Suddenly getting picked up was enough to remove her fears though. "Let them know if they must. I know where my duties lie, and getting bothered about that is not one of them. They lie simply in serving Ylisse… And you, my dearest."

"Context?"

"Hmm? I am not sure as to what you-"

"You said that your duty is to serve Ylisse, which can only have one definition… But you also mentioned serving me. How, exactly? As a knight… Or as my loving companion?"

"Milady, surely we must be returning now-"

Robin cut him off mid-sentence again. "Stop avoiding the question, Frederick…" She then, once she had finished speaking, opened her eyes again, a pleading look in her eyes. "I won't smile for you again if you try to avoid it..."

She could feel him struggle for words then, and she laughed lightly. It was adorable to see him try to come up with an answer which could satisfy her.

It took him about a minute to finally come up with a response. It was only one word, but it was more than enough to bring the withdrawn smile back to her face. "Both."

* * *

"I am so annoyed! Frederick just had to escape like that, didn't he?! We don't even know where he went! Back to camp? To Robin? Elsewhere?!" Lissa yelled, getting frustrated that she was having to search high and low for the knight, when normally, it would have been the knight searching for whoever had happened to be absent.

Chrom couldn't help but laugh at Lissa struggling, before looking up at the sky. "As much as I would love to have you searching for even longer whilst we rest, Lissa… It's getting late. The sun is setting… And… No matter what, we need to go back to Ylisse tomorrow..." The prince then closed his eyes, before hearing footsteps nearby too. "And do not dare think about leaving just yet, Gaius. Until Robin and Frederick return to us, I'm confiscating all of your candy."

The look on Gaius' face was priceless.

"Hey! That's no fair, Blue! All I did was say that Bubbles and him had ended up doing some dirty deeds together this morning!"

Everyone raised an eyebrow then. " _All_ that you did? I saw you this morning, stealing Robin's book from her and blackmailing her into keeping quiet about something or else you would tell everyone what was in there! She was left looking as though she had seen a ghost! And then, you go and tell the whole camp anyway, despite her not saying a word about you! I _was_ with her the whole day, so don't dare say that she did either..." Chrom shouted, obviously getting frustrated at not knowing the whereabouts of his two friends.

Everything was silent as they then returned to where the Shepherds had set up camp for the night, and the tension between Gaius and Chrom stayed high. The candy thief was rather annoyed with himself too, as he seemed to be making more enemies than friends at present.

"Ah, finally! You all have returned…" Maribelle was quick to approach the group upon their return, and her face seemed almost enlightened in joy. "You will be glad to know that just a few minutes ago, Frederick managed to return to camp, thankfully with a sleeping Robin in his arms."

That shocked everyone. They would have thought that Frederick would have just stayed with Robin, wherever she was, rather than return to camp with her. But either way, it was a relief all the same.

"However… There was one thing which concerned me about their return..."

Sumia then finally broke her silence by questioning why, and Maribelle's response was a lot different to what they had been expecting.

Slowly, she tapped her foot as she spoke. "Robin, I daresay, was wearing naught but her coat around her body… I believe that the two of them may have been up to something… Well, do you understand what I have been suggesting?"

A small nod was given from everyone then, before they all decided to retire for the night. The had a long day ahead of them.

At the same time, Robin, who had in fact been feigning sleep upon return to the camp in order to avoid questions, was stood near the entrance to the tent which she and Frederick were in. "Maribelle has more of a keen eye than I thought..." she whispered, slowly retreating from the opening and slowly finding herself caught in Frederick's embrace. "Though, I don't think that she realises how uncomfortable it is to get sand inside your clothes…"

Frederick laughed at her disgruntled mumbling, before his head moved to rest upon her shoulder as he let her hair loose. "May I suggest keeping your coat on next time then? It would have prevented a lot more sand-"

Robin slowly moved her finger to rest upon his lips to silence him, before she slowly pulled her finger down and looked at the face of confusion which he was bearing. Frederick was sure of one thing though – Robin definitely had something in her mind, and she was planning to do something.

Her next action was sudden to him though. She wrapped one of her arms around his neck, and used the hand which had been covering his lips to gently take hold of his chin and pull his face towards hers for a kiss.

Frederick was unsure of how to react completely, and Robin laughed as she slightly pulled away from him. "You are clueless with romance, aren't you?… It's adorable, you know… And only I can see this adorable side of you..." Feeling her lips move against his as she spoke helped some of his confusion subside, as he knew that she was right.

"I may not be as well versed with romance as I am, say, at maintaining weaponry, but at least I know that you wish not for that to change… Anything to make you happy, milady..."

Now it was Frederick's turn to confuse Robin. He was the one who resumed the kiss, not the evidently more dominant tactician. The muffled sounds of approval from the woman was enough to tell Frederick that he was definitely doing something right.

"I love you, Freddy Bear..." Robin mumbled as soon as they had separated, before she laughed at the state which Frederick had been left in.

Deciding to shrug off her use of the nickname which he despised with a passion due to how sweet her smile was, Frederick then took hold of her hands, and smiled back. "And I love you too, milady. Now, may I allow myself to be selfish for a moment?"

"Huh? I don't mind when you act a little self-!" It then took a matter of seconds at Robin's incomplete response for the knight to pull his arms around her waist, and place a small kiss upon her neck. He then used the kiss as a distraction to sit down on the bed which was present in the tent, making sure that the woman who was to be his wife was upon his lap.

"I wish to see you once more… As with this morning."

"O- Oh…" Robin went a flustered shade of red then, before she went and ruffled her hands through his hair, Surprisingly, it was a handsome look for him, having his hair tousled like that. "Well, so do I…" Then a smirk formed on her face. A smirk which Frederick could easily read. "And we've got all night."

* * *

Come the morning, Robin got an abrupt awakening.

She wasn't wearing anything still, and was also wrapped up in blankets so that she could have been protected from the cold at night, and then Lissa was stood over her, trying to nudge her awake. "Rooooobiiiiiiinnnn, come oooooooon….."

Robin couldn't feel anyone else beside her, so presumably, Frederick had already woke up and got about to his duties before everyone made the move back to Ylisse later that day.

But gods, was she exhausted. She didn't want to move at all, even through Lissa's hassling. "Robin, you need to wake up!"

"Go away..."

"No! Chrom needs you!"

Robin frustratedly then pulled the blankets around her to conceal the fact that she was naked, before sitting up. "Get him to come here then… I'm too tired. And not in the mood to see most people-"

"Are you still not over the whole 'everyone doesn't trust me' thing? Geez, we _do_ trust you!"

The tactician yawned, and her messy white hair fell to in front of her face. "Chrom comes here, or I go back to sleep."

And then, Lissa frowned. She had noticed something which would not work exactly well in Robin's favour if Lissa managed to pursue it. "What's that on your neck? It looks like a bruise-"

She had forgotten about the many times of which Frederick had ended up kissing her neck over the past few days.

The tactician lay back down, burying her face into her coat which she had decided right there and then to use as a temporary pillow. "I guess that Chrom needing to see me isn't so important then."

"Mark my words, Robin… I am going to find out what that is!"

"Yeah, yeah, you just think that then..."

Upon Lissa walking out, Robin was finally able to sit up, and recover her clothes. That was the only reason why she wanted Chrom to come to her, rather than her to go to Chrom. She wanted the chance to get dressed without anyone realising that similar events had transpired that night to the day before. And then, to make matters worse, if it had been _Lissa_ who had realised, things would have become much worse than Gaius telling the whole camp about yesterday.

Grumbling as she pulled on her shirt, followed by her coat, she couldn't help but feel frustration towards her allies at that time. She would probably not be in the mood until that afternoon to start talking to and socialising with everyone else, but if she had to talk to Chrom, so be it

Once she was dressed, she sighed and fell back onto the bed with a deep sigh. Not long after that, she could hear a voice calling out to her. "Robin? Are you in there?" Chrom's voice was hardly much of a comfort after Lissa's awakening, but either way, it was good to hear a friend.

"Yes, I am…"

"Can I come in and talk to you then?"

"Yeah, if you want to… Though I am rather tired..." Robin pulled herself up so that she was sitting, and watched at her messy hair kept clinging to her face and the back of her neck. It was rather hot that day, after all.

As soon as the prince walked in, he laughed. "Gods, you look a sight for sore eyes!"

He received a glare from Robin. "Gee, thanks for the compliment… What did you want to see me about anyway?" She had hoped that this conversation would be over with quickly, but with Chrom's face quickly settling to something more serious, she knew that this wouldn't be the case.

Chrom watched as Robin then threw off her coat behind her, so that she could cool down. It was obvious that she was uncomfortable sitting in here. "I'll talk with you if you leave the tent. You are evidently too hot staying there."

"Fine, fine… But I'm only standing outside, you know that I'm tired..." Reluctantly, Robin stood up, and was then pushed outside by Chrom. "Right, I'm out. What is it?"

Chrom laughed at Robin's struggle to try and get the conversation over and done with, before he explained what he was thinking. "The war is over now… Well, you know that anyway, and we have to return to Ylisse… You've just been moving about with us, but because of your amnesia, you don't know if you lived anywhere, do you?"

"Yes… What are you getting at?"

"Well, seeming as everyone knows now that you and Frederick are engaged… I just thought that maybe, seeming as Frederick does live at the castle alongside me and Lissa… You would want to stay with him there? It could give you somewhere more… permanent to stay, I guess."

Robin raised her eyebrow then, before she smiled. "So, I guess that you can act gentlemanly at times then! Or is this a joke?"

"Gods no! It isn't a joke! I even asked Frederick if he minded if I invited you to stay with him, and he didn't mind!"

The prince was met with a smile then, and also a nod. "Just as long as Lissa doesn't bother me too much, okay?"

For another twenty minutes, the conversation continued with varying topics, from how long they thought it would take to restore Ylisse to its former glory, and as to whether Chrom should sort out a memorial for Emmeryn, and then… There were the more trivial subjects of conversation.

And what was the final thing which Chrom decided to say before walking away?

"By the way… The others have taken it into their own hands to sort out yours and Frederick's wedding. Have fun trying to talk them out of it!"

"Wh- What?!"

* * *

 **So, that's it for this chapter! Hopefully, the wait between this chapter and chapter 6 won't be as long this time! It just doesn't help that I am getting distracted with planning a series of oneshots with the future children in at the same time as trying to get this posted!**

 **That, and thank you for all the views, follows, favourites and reviews so far! It's highly appreciated!**

 **So, I hope that you are all willing to review~**


	6. Up to the surprise wedding!

**Pranks, memories, a wedding and a slightly drunk Robin. Need I say more?**

* * *

The look on Robin's face was one which nobody could hold back their laughter at, not even Frederick. Her eyes wide open, one of which twitching, and her mouth agape in shock. As well as that, her arms were shaking as she continued to stare into space.

"Lissa… _You are so dead!"_

The sudden change in atmosphere was enough to wipe the grins off everyone's faces.

You see, Lissa had decided, much to Robin's frustration, to continue pranking her as she had done pre-war with Plegia. She hadn't just carried out a small prank, such as having a toad in her hand to creep Robin out, this time. No… She had gone all out with her prank.

And how?

She had decided to spike Robin's food, a simple soup, with the spiciest chillies which she could find. To make matters worse, she had done the exact same with Robin's drink of tea, which other than the chilli, was perfectly attuned to Robin's tastes.

Chrom was trying to hold back a laugh at his best friend trying to catch his sister from the sidelines, whilst Frederick had now gone from quietly laughing to having a raised eyebrow. "We have been back in Ylisse for a week now… And already the princess has broken Robin..." Frederick sighed out loud, before deciding to intervene just in case Robin actually did start to kill.

Despite it being only a week, things had actually been very eventful, and many things in the future were organised.

The next week was set aside for the entire halidom to recover and rebuild, before a few days of rest… The first of which being set aside for a memorial for Emmeryn across not just the entirety of Ylisse, but also within Ferox, and even a few Plegian villages too. Almost the entire continent. After that, two days later, Chrom was to be officially declared the new Exalt of Ylisse.

And then… Two weeks after that… Was when the wedding between Robin and Frederick had been organised for, despite the fact that neither of them knew. The couple had strictly told everyone in the Shepherds to allow them to organise their own wedding, but they continued to plan behind their back. Even Chrom was in on it now, despite being against the idea at first.

They had various different plans set out for if the two were to discover that they were still planning also. If it were Frederick who found out, they would quickly try to distract him with things such as fake injuries from 'tripping over rocks in the castle courtyard', or with tasks such as helping organise a few bookshelves. If it were Robin, they would try and talk her into letting them continue to plan by showing her the dress which they most definitely want her to wear, and tempting her with it. If it were both… They were just going to try and lure them away (somehow) so that they could plan without the two of them trying to intervene, and also to allow the couple to wind down and relax beforehand, and also to… Give them some time alone.

Of course, it was Lissa who had come up with those plans. Nobody could come up with any better, so they were what had to be followed come the discovery of their planning – that is _if_ they were discovered.

"Let me get her, Frederick! She ruined my food!"

"You can get more!" Lissa sulked as she hid behind Chrom, who was beginning to get bored of the situation. "It's not as though we don't have food here!"

"So what?! That was my food that I wanted to eat _then_! Not _later_!"

Chrom sighed, before he grabbed hold of Lissa's wrist. "Frederick… Why don't you try and calm Robin down, whilst I _have a word_ with Lissa..." He didn't even wait for a reply, before pulling his sister outside the room despite her protests.

"Chrooooom! Please, let go of me!"

"Lissa… You do realise that you could make things so much worse for us by agitating Robin like that?" Lissa gave him a confused face, so he sighed, and had to explain what he meant to her, "If she is agitated with you… And then she discovers that we are planning her wedding despite her telling us not to… She will probably tear off a few heads – namely ours."

The princess bit her lip, and then sighed. "Yes, you're right… Sorry about that, big brother!" She followed that with a grin, before happily skipping away.

The prince awkwardly looked back at his sister, before he went to go and see if Robin had calmed down. As he opened the door slightly, he changed his mind though, as he could hear the conversation between Robin and Frederick.

"I know… I know… It's just that… At times, she's really nice and I love to spend time with her… But at other times… She's a bit… Obnoxious- Well, actually… More annoying than anything. Her pranks in particular… I pranked her back the first few times, but after a while it got a bit over the top and has stayed over the top..."

"She does mean it in jest, I am sure of it, Robin. Maybe you should just tell her that-!"

"I have done! And then she poured water down my back! Please, can't you tell her?..."

There was a small sigh from Frederick, and Chrom wasn't able to hear a response from him. He assumed that he had either nodded or shook his head, but he didn't stick around to see what Frederick was going to do.

He was going to leave those two to deal with that situation themselves.

* * *

"… You guys have _got_ to be kidding me… Right?..." It was just over three weeks later – as a matter of fact, the day before the entirety of the Shepherds had organised the wedding of Robin and Frederick. "Please… Tell me this is a joke..."

Robin had just been confronted by the women of the Shepherds barring Miriel (who was in the middle of researching an undisclosed subject) and Panne (who claimed not to "participate within such mediocre traditions of the manspawn as of yet") and had been told that she was going to be getting married the next day.

"We're sorry… We've been keeping it a secret from you!" Sumia laughed awkwardly, much to Robin's frustration.

She shook her head, and held her hand on her forehead as she sighed. "I think that I get that already… But… Why? Why did you still plan this when both me and Frederick said not to?..."

Maribelle smiled at the tactician, before she nudged Robin with her parasol. "Why, darling, it is quite simple! For one, you and Sir Frederick are the first of all of the Shepherds to enter a committed relationship! And two, it is _Frederick!_ One would not expect him out of all of the men amongst our ranks to become betrothed! Now, we must prepare you for tomorrow!"

"N- No! I was going to meet Frederick this evening to go to the-!"

"Do not worry, I am assured that Chrom and his companions are trying to distract Frederick as we speak!" Cordelia smiled, before she and Sumia grabbed hold of Robin's arms. "Now… We need to show you the dress that we got for you!"

Robin attempted to resist, but suddenly, Tharja emerged behind her. "Come on… I just _have_ to see you in your dress..." Just the tone of the dark mage's voice was enough to terrify her into doing what they wanted her to do.

"Oh yeah! Weirdly enough, Gaius has a brilliant sense in dresses! He thought that he could make up for what he said the other week by helping to choose it! And it really is pretty – perfect for you, Robin!" Lissa smiled, before she decided to laugh at the sheer panic in Robin's face. "It isn't a prank, trust me on that! I was told to stop the pranks, so I have done! Anyway… Let's actually get to showing you!"

Elsewhere, Frederick was stuck in a relatively similar situation.

"No. I am set to escort Robin this evening to the town, as I did promise her that I would help her find some new books. I have no time for other business." Frederick gave his trademark stern glare to the men in front of him, before shaking his head. "Please, allow me to pass."

Chrom laughed, before shaking his head. "I just think that you may have to reorganise… Robin is rather busy at the moment."

The new exalt hadn't even _seen_ Robin that day, how in the name of the gods could he know if she were busy or not? That, and why was he not allowing him past, alongside Gaius, of all people, as well as a few others?

"Milord… I honestly can not believe that you could know whether she is busy or not. Now, I must be leaving-"

"Gods, you don't get it, do you? _We don't want you to see Robin today!"_ Chrom shouted in exasperation, before Vaike took over in explaining, due to Chrom becoming a bit frustrated.

Though, that was after he had a laugh at Chrom's face. "What ol' Chrom was trying to say is that we have to keep you away from Robin, whilst the women keep her away from you, because behind your back, we have been organising your wedding for tomorrow! You can see her _all that you want_ tomorrow, especially in the evening... alone... in your bedroom… wearing a dress which you would just want to tear off her right there and then-!"

"Explain why you assume that I would do such abhorrent things to Robin!" Frederick almost went and lost his temper completely then, before he could hear Stahl mumbling to himself at the side, about how 'he mustn't be bothered over us organising his wedding for him then', and that make him growl. "And I will be coming onto that next, Stahl… Why did you all completely disrespect our request, and continue with your planning?"

By that point, Chrom had managed to calm down, so he was able to provide a response, "Because knowing the two of you well enough, you would end up too busy to find a time to organise your wedding, plus, it's a big thing with you and Robin ending up as the first two Shepherds engaged to be married… As for the dress thing… That's on Vaike, not us."

"Hey!"

* * *

That night, Robin was sat alone with a frown. She had been told that Frederick was being forced to sleep elsewhere that night, because according to Maribelle, "it is bad luck for a man to see his bride on the day of the wedding before the ceremony, especially once she is wearing her dress."

"Stupid traditions..." she mumbled, before lying back. She felt horribly cold, even once she had pulled the bedsheets over herself, all because of her isolation from her love. It had become a common occurrence over the past month since returning to Ylisse for her to cuddle up to Frederick at night, due to her needing reassurance for when she began to experience her nightmares – which were unfortunately becoming more common since the time where she had yelled about having amnesia in Plegia. "Can I not just stay with him for one more night?..."

What made things worse were that she had ended up being locked into the room too, after an attempt about an hour previously to slip out of the room to find her future husband. Well, rather than locked into the room… It's more like the door getting locked, and even though Robin had a key, Gaius had stuffed a sticky lollipop into the keyhole from the outside, so that only someone removing it from the outside would make it possible for the door to be unlocked.

It was impossible for her to get to sleep. Not like this.

Frustratedly, she stood up and walked over to a bookshelf which she had recently set up…

And then she noticed something out of place. A piece of paper had been slipped between two of the books.

Robin pulled it out and went to throw it into the bin after crumpling it up, but she suddenly noticed that there was writing on it. Familiar writing too… As a matter of fact, it was too familiar. It was her own handwriting.

"What?… Did someone rip this out of-! Gaius, he must have ripped it out… He still has that book… But why did he put this here?..."

Reluctantly, she then read what she had wrote a few weeks previously out loud to herself, but in a hushed way so that if anyone were outside, they couldn't hear her. "Oh gods… Things seem to be happening so fast at the moment… One moment, I'm stuck with Frederick as a bodyguard whilst my wrist recovers, and now… We're engaged?..." She looked at her previously injured wrist then, and trailed her fingers across what was now a pale white scar – a big contrast in comparison to her pale enough skin tone, and that was saying something.

After that, she returned to reading. "He's strong, dedicated, and damn, he is handsome. I have no qualms about saying this on paper, but out loud, I'm not as confident, because there is almost always someone there when I am with him… Well, except that time where we were trapped in that snowstorm..." She laughed at those memories then. Frederick's proposal was so… Well, clumsy in comparison to his normal self. She was so glad that they were alone at that time…

"But I have seen him in an even better state… Last night, for that matter! Under the covers of my bed, my hands tangled into his hair as we kept sharing delicate little kisses… I'm surprised though, I was never expecting his body to be as muscular as it was! I mean, I knew he was definitely well off in terms of his muscles, but _wow_. No wonder he was able to keep me from working on my strategy for Chrom until just now! Not to mention that I never exactly thought of him as the sort of person who would make his mind up so quickly about sleeping with a woman, not just sharing a bed together… Ah, I can't wait to be able to settle down with him when the war is over!"

She laughed at her past self then, her face a flushed pink shade. "I bet that the others used this to make up their minds about sorting out our wedding… W- Wait, if they did, that would mean that they- They-!" Her face went a deep crimson shade then. "They know all the details about that night now… Not just that we slept together… Ah! Gods!"

To quickly distract herself, she then grabbed hold of a random book from the shelf, before scrunching up the paper and tossing it into a bin. Unfortunately… The book was one of the romance novels which Sumia had previously given her.

Despite that, she _still_ read it.

Her imagination was a wild place at that time though, so what happened when she got to the steamier parts of the novel, between the two main characters? She found herself replacing her images of them with her and Frederick. Not good for her trying to forget that he wasn't with her.

After some time, she then began to cry due to her loneliness, and in turn, it developed into exhaustion. She essentially cried herself to sleep.

The tactician's awakening was abrupt though, with someone diving onto her. "Come on, sleepy head! We've been trying to wake you up for _ages_! You're getting married in _an hour!"_

* * *

"Frederick, you just need to relax, okay? There's still a few minutes to go before the women bring Robin here..." Chrom stated, noticing that Frederick was starting to mess with his fingers. He assumed that his fidgeting was to do with the fact that normally, he would be holding Robin's hand no matter what he was doing unless he was required to use both of his hands.

"I know, milord… It is just that I have not been forced to stay away from her for so long since we became engaged, except for the day which we fought Gangrel..."

The memories of that day were still bitterly present in Frederick's mind, despite him wanting to just get rid of them completely. Well, except for the memories that night. He would treasure the memories of that night dearly. The exhaustion which both he and Robin suffered the day after through lack of sleep was worth what had happened that night.

"Don't worry, okay? I have made everyone promise to back out of your personal lives for now, until you both settle down into married life. We won't keep you separate again- Oh, Sully is calling for me… I will be back in a minute."

Frederick gave Chrom a confused look as he suddenly ran over to the cavalier, who had suddenly emerged in the room. He could hear the conversation, even though they were trying to be as quiet as possible.

"She's kinda in a panic at the moment… We're managing to get her here, but it's taking time. Pretty crap, I know, but at least she hasn't ran away, right?"

"Gods… How long do you think that it will take to get Robin here then? Because Frederick isn't being himself and is getting very restless..."

"Um… Oh, wait, here she is! It's about time, Robin!"

Just hearing that made Frederick all the more anxious. After all, the wedding had been suddenly sprung upon them, and he also had no idea on how Robin had coped ever since she had found out herself, not to mention… He wasn't so keen to have so much attention diverted to the two of them.

And then she walked in.

And gods, she looked like an angel to him.

Her dress was all flowy and white, with a pale purple tint at the bottom of the skirt and at the top of the dress, just above her chest. What blew him away even more… Was that the dress perfectly framed her figure, which would normally be covered in the various layers of her typical attire, especially her coat. And on top of that, she was red in the face, so she was obviously embarrassed at the entire situation.

One final thing which was notably different to her appearance was that her white hair, normally just scruffily threw back, had been neatly brushed through and tied into a delicate bun behind her head, and was adorned by little purple flowers.

Frederick could feel the heat in his face then. This was happening… And this spectacle of beauty before him was to be his wife.

* * *

Robin smiled gently as she quickly hugged Frederick, and shared yet another kiss with him. That was about the tenth time which she had done that in about the three hours which they had been married, but it wasn't as though anyone was bothered – the day was about them after all.

The entire ceremony, despite the secret planning and abrupt announcement of it, had gone off without a hitch.

By far, everyone had decided that the best part of it was the kiss at the end. The sheer passion which the two felt for each other could be picked up by everyone else, and they knew that what they had done for them had been the best thing that they could have done.

"Sooooooo… When are the kids coming~?" Lissa jokily questioned once Robin had finally decided to separate from her new husband, and she couldn't help but glare at the princess.

"Do you seriously think that we would have children yet, Lissa? _Honestly!"_

"Well… I wouldn't be surprised if you were pregnant now, with how often you two sleep with each other!"

Robin sighed out, before flicking the princess in the forehead. "Trust me, I couldn't be… Because how exactly do you know that- Ah, forget it… But I'm not pregnant, Lissa! Gods!"

Chrom raised an eyebrow at Robin's sulking, before he decided to talk to Frederick. "Have you heard those two?..."

"Yes, unfortunately… And before you say a word, milord, no, Robin is not bearing a child..."

The exalt was shocked at how the knight was able to read his thoughts exactly, but he shrugged it off. "Anyway… Why aren't you with Robin?"

Frederick sighed, and rubbed the back of his head. "The princess keeps pulling her away from me now-"he stopped mid-sentence as Chrom walked over to the two women, before watching as he grabbed Lissa's wrist with one hand, and nudged Robin towards Frederick with the other.

The knight thankfully nodded to Chrom, who then pulled Lissa away… but after winking back to him. He knew exactly what Chrom was insinuating, and it made him turn a bit red in the face.

"Finally we can't be separated from each other..." Robin smiled, her hazel eyes shining in the ambiance created by the candle-lit room. It was starting to get late now, so the candles were a nice touch for such a romantic occasion, at least in his opinion. "Hey, smile, why don't you? Rather than give me that flustered face!" She laughed rather loudly, which was making Frederick think that she was pleased that she was with him, before there was a loud cough for attention nearby.

It was obviously Maribelle with something planned. "Now… I believe that it is appropriate, now that our beloved Sir Frederick and Lady Robin are neither separated nor distracted, to play some music to dance to. Of course, that is unless the couple decline?"

Robin was a bit puzzled then. Dance? She hadn't danced before… At least, from what she could remember… The mix of a drink of alcohol from earlier and amnesia didn't exactly go hand in hand. Of course, she wasn't aware of the alcohol part.

Frederick could see the confusion in her face, and smiled at her gently as he took hold of her hand. "Here, allow me, milady… I would not wish to see you fall over today, not whilst you are in such a magnificent dress..."

She couldn't help but notice the delicacy of every single action as of the moment which he held onto her hand, before his other hand moved over to her waist. The music which Maribelle had requested was slow and peaceful too, even more fitting to the atmosphere created by the lighting.

Everyone couldn't help but look in awe at the couple. Though they initially held much dislike for one another, to see the love between them was something of beauty. The way in which Frederick was handling Robin as they danced, and the way in which Robin seemed more composed than her mental state had allowed her over the past few weeks was a marvel too.

Once the music had died down, and their dance had drawn to a close with a gentle kiss which Frederick planted upon her hand, Robin began to smile as her eyes welled up in tears. "I love you, Freddy Bear~ Thank you for everything..." was what she then whispered, before nestling her head into him as she felt him pick her up off the floor.

"No… It should be me thanking you… You've changed both me and my life completely… And I couldn't have things any better than they are now."

"Just think… We wouldn't be together if I hadn't told you to smile, would we?" She then laughed, kicking her legs out a bit, before kissing his cheek. Frederick passed off her strange actions as she spoke as restlessness.

"Speaking of time together… We need to make up for that time which we were kept apart over the past few days..."

"Then how about we slip away then, and find somewhere quiet? Nobody would suspect a thing – after all… Look, almost all of them are either drunk now, or asleep! Hah, just look at that silly sleepy face of Chrom's!" Robin found it funny looking at everyone then, before sighing. "We've got all the time in the world to be alone now~ Our room, maybe?"

"If that is what you wish… But you've got to sleep first, okay? You're starting to look tired too, Robin..."

"Fine then… I'll sleep… But only on the condition that you abandon your duties for the next few days… Hmm… In jest of a certain person obsessed with candy… Robin needs her sugar~"

"R- Robin! Gods, you're drunk!"

"Noooo! I mean, I've only had a drink which Gregor gave me before, whilst he was with… um… Was it Vaike?… And Gaius?… Maybe Virion?… It was… Um… Straight after we got here?… But I'm noooooot drunk!

With a sigh, Frederick pulled her closer to him as she threw her arms around his neck. "Come on… Let's go and get you some rest..."

* * *

 **So... This chapter was the fluffy stuff, the next chapter we get to some of the good stuff~**

 **Well, I'm hoping that you are all willing to favourite, follow and review~ I'm shocked at the sheer amount so far, so thank you so much! It's motivating me to write even more!**


	7. Robin's extensive clumsiness

**Well... Updates may _not_ be as often as I hope now... On top of it being exam season (which I have failed to mention on various occasions), I have been an absolute klutz and fell up the stairs and fractured some fingers... I'm still writing when I can, but I've been told to 'try and relax my fingers a bit more'... Oopsie? **

**Well, I had better get onto the chapter...**

* * *

"Come on, Gaius! You can do better than that if you want those caramel cupcakes!" Robin laughed, quickly jumping back as the thief swung his sword towards her. Over the past year, Robin and Gaius were quick to make up as friends, aware that their abrasive attitudes to one another in the past were most definitely to do with the fact that Robin was close to breaking down through stress at the time, and Gaius was frustrated over two things: his candy getting all sticky and melting; and all the fighting which was being done at the time.

"Damn, Bubbles! That husband of yours is rubbing off on you! You're getting tougher and stricter each time that we train!"

"But Frederick doesn't give you candy afterwards, does he?"

With a triumphant smirk, Robin then swung her sword towards Gaius, and ended up swiping at the cloak which he had on. The material tore easily, and the thief looked at it in shock. "Bubbles, seriously?!"

"A tear is a small cost if you want to be in a good enough condition to ask Lissa out on a date, over being a chubby little thing..."

Gaius' face after that made Robin burst out laughing then, and he just went and sighed before leaning against a wall. He was glad that he and Robin weren't almost like enemies any more, and her infectious laughing was probably one of the benefits of that. After a few more moments, he began to laugh at himself too, and then looked across the courtyard where they had been training. "Hey, look there, Bubbles. Looks like your husband is waiting for you."

Frederick, however?… The two still weren't exactly on as firm ground. They did exchange small glares if they passed each other in a hallway, and as well as that, they did sometimes have slightly bitter conversations until Robin came along to interrupt them every single time.

The tactician looked up, and then smiled at Frederick from where she was stood, before she reached into her coat and threw a small key over to Gaius. "Should be easy enough to figure out where the cupcakes are, right?"

The thief smirked, before casually waving his hand as he walked away, ready to go cupcake hunting. Well, if it were counted as hunting. Robin always locked candy which she had for him in the same place every time, a drawer in the library within the castle.

Once Gaius was out of earshot, Frederick walked over to Robin with a small frown."You keep going to train with him… Why?" He paused for a moment, hoping that she would respond, but the raised eyebrow which he received was enough to deter him from questioning any further. She was definitely aware of how he still wasn't exactly as keen on the thief as her, so she knew not to pursue such conversations.

"Well, may I ask you as to why you have been mysteriously disappearing for a few days now, Freddy Bear? Oh, and I've been noticing that you've been more… relaxed in your duties, leaving your armour behind and such… What about that?"

Robin asking that shocked Frederick, but he knew that maybe… Maybe he should explain why.

It was definitely true though. Everyone had noticed that Frederick was just vanishing, even Kellam, the master of vanishing when in plain sight. They had even held a worried meeting to try and see what on earth was up with the knight. On top of that, yes, he had also been much more laid back in his duties. Less effort was put into them then usual, and it was strange for Robin to see that Frederick, one for safety and preparation for the worst happening at any time, was doing things such as carelessly misplacing weapons, and forgetting his armour.

He didn't know how to explain it to her that well though, and Robin bit her lip in worry. "Frederick… Please, don't keep quiet like that! You aren't… Disliking our company, are you? Or… Or..." She looked panicked then, various different worst case scenarios playing through in her head. "Just say something, damn it!"

"I've… Been trying to do something for you..." was all that he could respond with, before hugging her tightly.

"Huh?… What do you mean by that?..." She made him loosen his grasp of her, and she rested her hands on his chest as she looked up at him in confusion. "I don't get what you mean..."

He carefully let go of her, and then took hold of her wrist. "I have to show you then… I cannot exactly explain with words..."

* * *

"Okay, first Frederick starts vanishing, and now Robin?" Chrom sighed a few days later, Sumia and Lissa with him as he tried to figure out what was going on. "How long has it been happening now?"

Lissa frowned as she looked up, before closing her eyes. "I would say about a month for Frederick, and two weeks for Robin? I don't know really, but I guess that is about right?..."

The group agreed on that, Lissa was the closest that they could get to the amount of time that the two kept disappearing. It was really beginning to confuse them though, what exactly could they be disappearing for?

Suddenly, the door flew open and someone came running in, out of breath."Phew… Sorry that I am late, I was a bit busy! Hahaha..." Robin quietly laughed, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. She was hoping that she wouldn't be asked why, but alas, that would not be the case.

Almost instantly, Sumia asked why.

With a sigh, the tactician scuffed her boot against the floor before shrugging. "It doesn't matter..." Three glares were enough to make her gulp, and explain. "Frederick had ended up getting me a lot of new books… I've been distracted reading them..." She then began to mess with her fingers awkwardly, somehow turning embarrassed for admitting that to them.

Chrom laughed, before he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Why are you turning red? At least we know why you two have been acting a bit strange! Anyway, we need to go now, we were just waiting for you." He smiled, before looking at Lissa. "Are you coming?"

"Nope, not today! I'm staying here with Sumia!"

"Huh?" Robin tilted her head in confusion. "You're not coming? Normally you would jump up at the chance to kill some risen with Chrom..."

Despite the fighting now being over, risen were actually still quite the problem within the continent. More often than not, one or two of the Shepherds, sometimes even the mysterious 'Marth' figure, or even Basilio and Flavia had been nearby to deal with them. If there were a lot of risen or if they were difficult, more often than not those residing within the castle in Ylisstol – so Chrom, Lissa, Robin, Frederick and Sumia – would be called upon.

"No… I'm not going. Did you not tell her, Chrom?" Sumia smiled, before looking at the exalt at the same time as Lissa.

"Yeah, big brother! Have you not told her?"

Robin turned to face him then. They had a secret, and hadn't told her?… Well, locking herself in her quarters to read her new books did mean that she barely made any contact with anyone…

As he began fidgeting, he sighed deeply. "You know that me and Sumia are quite close as friends?… Well… Now… Ehehe, I'm not exactly good with words when explaining this?..."

"You two are engaged, aren't you?"

"Yes."

The blunt way in which Chrom responded to Robin made Lissa slap her face with a sigh. "And here you see the ruler of Ylisse…"

Meanwhile, Sumia had burst out laughing. Despite their constant clashes with each other, Chrom and Lissa were the perfect example of siblings with a healthy relationship. Robin was also thinking something along the same lines, and was laughing too.

"Well, I'm happy for you two then!" Robin was finally able to say once she had calmed down, before turning to Chrom. "So, where are we heading off to? I'm guessing that seeming as Frederick isn't here by now, it's just the two of us..."

"A field to the south… The same one where we found you, actually…" The quiet laughing of Chrom was enough to get Robin to roll her eyes, before she pulled out a tome and hit him across the head. "Ow… I get it, now isn't the time for reminiscing…"

"Yes, I believe that you are correct there, milord… Hadn't we best be leaving now?"

Everyone turned around and Lissa let out a loud sigh of relief. "It's about time you showed up, Frederick! Now, take Chrom and Robin, and get out of here! I have some talking to do with Sumia!"

* * *

"Are you sure that you are okay?..." Robin muttered that night, wrapped up under a few layers of blankets as she spoke to Frederick, her eyes not losing contact with her book. "I mean, we had never even noticed that last risen with the fire tome… And that burn on your face looked rather bad..."

Frederick deeply chuckled, before he carefully placed one of Robin's misplaced tomes back onto her bookshelf. "Yes, Robin. I am fine. Quite fortunate that Lady Maribelle happened to be present at the time too. But what about you? You tripped over a lance which one of the risen dropped..."

Robin closed her book, and then placed it beside her with a small smile. The fight earlier against the risen had been quite a clumsy one, especially for the tactician and the knight. As a matter of fact, they were the only ones to sustain injuries. Just as Robin had stated, Frederick had got some of his face burned through a narrow miss with a risen which was wielding a fire tome, and as a result of that, she had wanted to see if he were okay afterwards, but had ended up tripping over a lance – she blamed that on the grass being too tall in the field.

Quietly, she looked at her knee, and decided to respond to his question. "Look… It's nothing much more than a few small bruises..." She then closed her eyes, and began to slowly hum a small tune to herself.

Things stayed quiet between the two them, except for Robin's quiet humming, at least until she could feel a pair of arms pull her close to his body. Robin opened her eyes, and smiled at the fact that Frederick had finally decided to sit down in their bed beside her.

Carefully, she then kissed just above the burn on his cheek, before she could feel his hand rest upon the bruises on her leg. "Hey, um..." Robin trailed off, before trying to think of what to say. She wasn't liking the silence much at all.

"What is it, milady?..." Frederick kissed her forehead quickly, before she realised something.

"You feel cold..." Ever so carefully, she adjusted the blankets wrapped around her to also enclose him. "I don't like holding onto you when you are cold."

"Maybe I would not feel so cold if mayhaps… You actually wore more clothes?..."

Robin pouted as her face went red then. "It's not my fault that I got a lot of that… I don't know, sap-like thing that the risen turn into when they are defeated all over me!" She grabbed hold of Frederick even tighter then with a 'hmph', before she could feel him rest his chin upon her head.

"I know… But you do have other clothes-"

"And if I so wish, I don't have to wear _much_ in the presence of my husband. It isn't as inappropriate as, say, if I were in this situation with someone such as… Chrom?..." She shivered as she suddenly remembered the awkward run ins that she and Chrom had back when they were actually at war, and went red in the face. Thankfully, Frederick didn't see this, and she felt some relief at that. "And besides… You're the cold one, not me!"

There was another laugh from Frederick, before she could feel his hands slowly make their way from around her arms to around her waist. The feeling of his hands against her bare skin was a feeling which she had still not got used to, yet she still loved the feeling of it.

"Well, thank the gods themselves that I have you to warm me up then..." he smiled, before lying down as he kept hold of her. She made a small squeal as he did that, before sighing.

"Frederick, why is it that when you're with me… You act more… I don't know, more care-free? You're always chivalrous, but your maturity at times seems to just fly out of the window when we're alone! Not that I mind, that is..."

"Maybe it is to do with the fact that it happens to be you that I am with. And need I remind you that whilst I am a knight, and it is required for me to act chivalrous, as you say… I am also a man, and when I am with my wife..." Frederick fell quiet then, but she could tell that he had a satisfied smile upon his face as she held onto him in return tightly.

She then nodded, smiling herself. "I get what you mean..."

They continued some more small-talk for a while after that, until their bedroom was completely pitch black as time had flew faster than they thought that it had done, meaning that it was already the dead of night. It wasn't long until Robin sighed with exasperation and then made Frederick loosen his grasp of her in order for her to be able to light a candle so that they had a temporary light source.

And then, Frederick asked Robin a question completely out of the blue. "How much time do we have until the candle can burn no longer?"

"Huh?..." She was confused, but then looked at the candle so that she could answer his question. It was quite small, seeming as Robin had used it a lot for when she read over the past few nights, so there wouldn't be long left in that candle's lifetime. "About an hour… Why?"

"So we have some time… At least, if you are willing, milady..."

Robin didn't take long to realise what he was saying, and her face flushed a pale red colour. "Is this to do with what you were saying before?… About you being more care-free when with me? Because if it is..." she then gently held onto his face, and stroked her thumb over his cheek, careful not to press too hard upon his burn, as she smiled kindly at him.

"Possibly." The knight quickly pulled Robin back down to him, and kissed her on the lips gently before running his hand through her hair as his other hand gently trailed across her spine, making her shiver through his hands still being cold.

For the next few minutes, rather than them speaking to each other, their interaction was purely non-verbal. Yes, it mostly consisted of small hugs, tender kisses and loving contact with each other, but after a while, Frederick could just about see Robin pout in the faintly flickering light.

"What is the matter, Robin?..." He whispered, worriedly looking at her as she continued to look dissatisfied about something, which he evidently couldn't quite get a grasp of. "Robin… Talk to me..."

"Oh, I'm sorry..." She laughed quietly, before she put on a smile and kissed his nose as she perched herself up on her elbows from where she was lying on top of him. "I'm just a bit restless, that's all..." After that, she carefully looked at his face, before bursting out laughing. "We've been married for just over a year now, and you still don't get when I am attempting to suggest something romantic to you! You're still clueless about romance, aren't you?"

Frederick sighed, before pulling her back down onto him. "You barely gave me a chance to react, that is all… I get what you mean, I have been with you for long enough to realise when you are suggesting something."

"Oh! Well, that's good… Maybe you do have a clue after all… Anyway, time's wasting… The candle is getting closer to going out, you know..."

* * *

Robin mumbled as she woke up, trying to rub her eyes due to how dreary they felt but just not having the energy to move her arm whatsoever. She was completely drained, and despite that, she was proud of the reason why. Just seeing Frederick still asleep beside her, arms tightly wrapped around her chest with nothing but blankets over them was enough to make her blush.

It was, from what she could see, only just sunrise due to the pinkish light flooding their room, meaning that she hadn't actually been asleep for too long, four or five hours at most.

"Gods… So tired..." She muttered, wanting to go back to sleep as she tried to wind back down, but a dull ache throughout her body not allowing her. Her fumbling around last night had managed to earn herself many more problematic bruises and bumps everywhere, and due to the mood which they were both in, Frederick had tended to them all with a kiss – no matter where they were. Even the awkward bruise which she was capable of getting on her chest through her slipping off him one of many times which resulted in her falling onto her book which she had forgotten to move off the bed.

After thinking about that bruise, she carefully placed her hand against it and felt the tips of his fingers against her hand. Frederick was most definitely asleep… But was still trying to be gentle as he held onto her. Or maybe, it was simply the fact that he was asleep that this was the case. Either way, she was grateful for his unconscious tenderness.

"I feel cold..." She then mumbled, realising that it probably wasn't smart with autumn quickly approaching and she was lying there with no clothes on, relying on just blankets and Frederick's body for warmth.

Then thinking about that made her start laughing. "Gods… I can imagine myself from two years ago giving me a disgusted look about this… Sleeping bare next to Frederick… With him in a similar state without clothes… Ah..." She made herself shut up then, due to her mind then getting filled with memories of that night and in turn making her face turn an even brighter red than it already was.

"Gods… I should just… Try and sleep..."

* * *

Lissa was giggling as she sat next to Robin a few months later, after Robin had just told her a secret which nobody else knew yet. "So… On top of Sumia, it's you now, huh?"

Awkwardly, Robin nodded before she decided to open the book to a random page and start mumbling to herself as she did so. She was much more trusting of Lissa when it came to secrets now, due to her being much more mature than two years ago, but knowing that Lissa would be the only person who knew for now, seeming as they were actually alone in Ylisstol for the time being made her want to sigh out loud.

You see, Chrom was away on official business with Flavia in Ferox, and had took both Sumia and Frederick with him. He said that he needed someone responsible to help look after Lissa and also Ylisse whilst he was away, hence why Robin was still there with the princess.

Lissa could tell that Robin was rather uncomfortable keeping at the topic at hand, so she was quick to change the topic. "What are you reading?..."

"Oh… It's a book with all sorts of Ylissean, Feroxi and Plegian history, folklore and such… Though, to be honest, I seem to be finding everything about Ylisse and Ferox… Familiar. As though I've been taught about it before… Maybe I knew about this before my amnesia kicked in…"

"But you don't feel that way about the Plegian stuff?"

"Yes… I don't feel as familiar with it, so I'm reading that primarily..." She trailed off, beginning to become engrossed in one particular part of it.

Out of curiosity, Lissa peered over her shoulder and began to read what was written also, but was mostly focussing on the diagrams and illustrations present. "Hey, doesn't that look weird? That mark? It has six eyes! Just like that creepy skull in Plegia… N- Near where Emm..." Quickly, she shook her head and wiped away the tears as Robin gulped.

"Oh gods… But what it says about that mark though… 'The following is the brand symbolically bore by members of the grimleal, either through their attire or through a brand upon their skin. Only a select few are capable of bearing the brand upon their body, due to their connection with the Fell Dragon Grima, either through blood or through his will.' I don't know why… But it worries me, that..."

Really, she knew exactly why. The marking upon her right hand was the reason why.

She had something to do with Grima… But she couldn't risk anyone else discovering that out. Gods, especially Frederick… What would happen if he figured out? Would their relationship be completely over?…

In frustration, she flicked a few pages forward and huffed. "I don't like those grimleal at all..."

And neither was she liking herself, at that moment in time.

"Robin? You seem to be acting strange since you read that page… Maybe you should read something else for now!" Lissa grinned, before the smile quickly turned to a frown as she noticed Robin shaking as she tried to read the book some more. "Right, that's it!" She snatched the book away, before she grabbed her wrist and forced her to her feet. "You're not reading for the rest of the day! We're going to get Maribelle, Cordelia, and a few others and we are going to visit the markets to do some shopping!"

"Wh- What?!… Ugh… Do I have to?!"

"Yep! You never know what you can find! Maybe you'll find an even better book that you can start reading _tomorrow."_

"Lissa! Let go of my wrist!"

"Nope! Now come on!"

* * *

 **Yeah... A bit short, and not as good as I had hoped...**

 **But I've always wondered something... When exactly have the children other than Lucina been born? I've always imagined Morgan (when not Lucina's sibling) being just a bit younger than her, but due to time travel, seems a lot younger?... Meh, that's just me anyway.**

 **Anyway, I can't keep dropping silly hints about chapters that will require a longer wait due to injured finger related restraints, can I?**

 **So... I'm hoping that you're willing to review, favourite, follow and whatnot?**


	8. Tactical family situations

**Injured fingers, ideas for other stories on here, and attempting to find a way to stop myself from using too much dialogue within my writing made writing this chapter quite a gruelling task...**

 **That, and trying to fit in as many family related situations for Robin as well in a single chapter made it even worse, as I actually have plans to use Morgan in the next few chapters...**

 **But I probably shouldn't spoil things. I hope it's okay for you all!**

* * *

"Ugh… I forgot how much I hated the smell and sight of blood..." Robin growled to herself as she swung her sword at the soldiers trying to cut her and her allies down. "And with the smell of the ocean alongside that..."

"Now isn't the time for that, Robin! We need to push them back towards their ship!" Sumia's voice was enough to snap the tactician away from her thoughts, and it made her grit her teeth in a newly found confidence.

"Yeah… We need to protect our home..." The thought of her actually having a home which she needed to protect made her feel much more hatred towards these invaders. As a matter of fact… She had more than a home to protect. She had a family now too. "Frederick… Morgan..."

Thinking of her young son in Ylisse was also enough to boost her confidence in her fighting. He was only a few months old, just like Chrom and Sumia's daughter, but already he was more than anything to her in the world. She could easily enough lay down her life to protect him, and she knew that Frederick would willingly do the same. If worst came to worst, and a war started between them and the Valmese, who were their current opponents… Everything that she would do would be for him.

"Robin! We've got a chance to get over to the ship, they've all either been defeated or pushed into the corner… Well, ship, not corner..."

"Right! You go ahead and meet with Chrom and Frederick, and I'll hang back and sort out any stragglers! Tell him to defeat their leader to get the remaining soldiers to surrender!"

The pegasus knight nodded, and flew off towards where the exalt and the knight were fighting, just as Robin ran her thumb and forefinger across the slightly dulled blade of her sword with a smirk. Surprisingly, it had been sharp at the beginning of the battle. "Let's go and finish off some-!"

All of a sudden, once it was definite that none of her allies were in any sort of close range, a sharp pain ran through Robin's head, making her grasp hold of herself and sink down to her knees. "Not a stupid headache… Not now..." She used her sword to pull herself up, before catching sight of a Valmese soldier carrying out a similar action before running towards her in the corner of her eye. "Gods… You just need to learn when to quit..."

A quick swing of her sword was enough to stop the man in his tracks. She hadn't realised just how brutal she had been with the attack though… Within moments, blood was dripping down onto the floor, and the person was clutching the top of their leg as they fell down. Actually, it was more as though it was gushing out, rather than simply dripping. She grimaced at what she had done, aware that she had cut open a major artery in this person's leg. It took a lot of courage for her to talk herself out of feeling guilty.

"This person… Already has blood on their sword… They've killed someone before now… And… I've also killed before now… Unfortunately, it's an inevitable side-effect of war..." She sank back down onto the floor, her headache beginning to become worse, and even the daylight was beginning to make it worse. "They… They were not innocent..."

And then, she could see something strange in her head, like a scene unfolding before her, yet she was still able to see the cobbled roads of the Feroxi port she was slumped in.

She was envisioning… A boy. Not much older than, say, Donnel or Ricken. Fifteen, maybe sixteen at most. He had dark brown hair, and was dressed in a rather similar style to her, with a long coat, yet he had some armour upon him, as though he were also a knight of sorts. His breathing was light as he lay in a field, unconscious and unaware of his surroundings. It was evidently a Feroxi field, from somewhere up in the north-west. Much of the plants and fauna which she could see were exclusively from that region.

What happened next was that the boy was starting to wake up, and began to look around in confusion. " _Mother?… Where… Is she?… She… Wouldn't leave me alone… Would she?..."_

The more that she witnessed of this mysterious boy's confusion as he tried to get a grasp of what was going on, the less that she could feel of the pain of her headache. It had completely gone by the time that this strange scene had finished unfolding, and she could feel a hand upon her shoulder.

"Come on, girl! Your exalt's panicking that you got hurt! You should go meet him!" The hand on her shoulder was then lifted, before it became a 'gentle' nudge in the back.

"Ouch! I don't think Chrom would appreciate a bed-bound tactician with a broken back though, Basilio..." She grumbled, finally standing up. What she was quick to notice was the blood upon her hands, which had happened because of the pool of blood which had seeped through the Valmese soldier's wound until his heart had beat its last. She was bothered a lot by that, and it made her want to feel worse than she previously had done.

Slowly, she looked at the pale body lying on the ground, and she closed her eyes. Despite her talking herself out feeling guilty for his murder, she still felt… Sympathetic to the man's family. Maybe he too were in a situation such as her… Had a young child back at his home, constantly asking 'when will father come home?', which he had wanted to protect… But maybe, he didn't have family at all. Maybe he enrolled in the Valmese army to avoid loneliness… She would never know either way.

Robin then slapped herself in the face to knock these thoughts out of her head. She was not in the position to think like that.

"Come on, girl! Don't keep that boy waiting!"

"I'm twenty-one, Basilio. Not exactly a girl, am I?" She then mumbled, walking away from the Khan as she removed her gloves. Some blood had seeped through the material, and thankfully, had covered her brand. That disgusting, Plegian brand… And, knowing that Lissa was also aware of the brand's meaning, seeing one of her closest friends bearing such a brand could the tactician her all credibility. Actually, not just her credibility. Any trust she had built up. Her friends. Her home. Her family.

She would be one of the enemy.

She didn't want to be one of the enemy… She had a cause which she would fight for, and was not willing to let a stupid purple marking change that for her.

"Robin! There you are! We were getting worried!" Chrom's voice from nearby made her look up, and then force on a smile.

"Hey there… Miss me much?"

"About as much as Frederick spoke about Morgan in that battle..."

"Milord, I believe that you spoke of Lucina more than I spoke of my son whilst in combat..."

"No way, Frederick. You wouldn't shut up about him, it put enemies off attacking us!"

"Oh gods… You two men just can't let the fact that you are fathers go, can you? And you both wanted me and Sumia to stay behind in Ylisse!"

* * *

"I'm still not down with this idea." Chrom sighed, reluctantly looking around at his surroundings. He had never been in a Plegian building such as this one before, and the distinctly grimleal decorations made him anxious.

Robin smiled as she looked at the exalt, before she poked his shoulder. "Well, if you want your precious little Lucina to be protected from the big, bad Conqueror Walhart~"

"I know, I know… We need the Plegians' assistance..."

A few minutes later, the new ruler of Plegia finally decided to show himself. Both general and tactician stepped back in shock at the sight of who exactly this new king was. "Y- You?!"

"Now… Is that any way to talk to Plegian royalty, young lady?"

Robin got quite annoyed at seeing Aversa then emerge from the shadows, and talk to her in such a way. Though, her reaction to the king was a genuine one. She had remembered as clear as day seeing Chrom cut down that man in an attempt upon Emmeryn's life, not long after she had joined Chrom and his Shepherds as their official tactician.

"Now now, Aversa… You do not need to get involved.. This business is between me and Exalt Chrom only." The grey skinned man muttered, before he noticed that Robin was present, and smirked. Robin recognised that smirk. He had that smirk on his face the first time that they had come across each other, saying that she should 'come with him, and perhaps he may honour her with the truth' as he 'knew who she was'.

She just could not trust him though, and she was quick to express this concern to Chrom.

"Don't worry… At the first sign of danger, we leave." He muttered, allowing himself to exclusively be heard by Robin and also Frederick, who was stood at his other side.

"Please do not be whispering behind our backs, Exalt. We wish not for any hostilities to develop between our countries, do we? Now… Before we get to our delegations, I wish for you to meet my new advisor. I am assured that you will be… Surprised to see who she is."

The next few minutes were a massive shock to the three then, especially to Robin and Frederick. Somehow… This King Validar… Had managed to find someone who was identical to every little detail of the Ylissean tactician. It was scary almost.

"I assure you, we are not sisters… Simply alike."

"A- Alike!? You mean a mirror image! You're a mirror image of me!"

"Who is to say that you are not just a mirror image of me? From what I have heard, you have amnesia, yes? Well, taking that into account..." The duplicate laughed, before she looked at Frederick, who was still looking rather shocked. "Well… I'm shocked at your standards, tactician… One thing which we do not have in common… Now, I really must be off now, I have some organising to do, Validar…" The woman waved her arm, now disregarding the presence of Robin, Chrom and Frederick as she walked away. One she was out of sight, she then smirked. "I've not seen Chrom and Frederick alive in such a long time… It's a shame that they both have to die again soon..."

* * *

What had happened that day was almost too much for Robin to comprehend by night, as she and the rest of the Shepherds camped out in the woodland upon Carrion Isle. They had respectfully passed up the offer of taking shelter for the night from Validar due to Robin's mental decline, for that matter.

"Ugh… In just one day… I've horrifically killed someone… Found out that one of Emmeryn's attempted murderers is now the Plegian king… And that the royal Plegian advisor is basically a carbon copy of myself! Ugh… What next?! I'm magically, all of a sudden… I don't know, royalty?! Gah!" She paced back and forth in a small clearing, close to pulling her hair out in large clusters, the way in which she was stressing out.

Just to make things worse, another sudden headache was threw into the mix. "Crap!" She leant forward, and grasped hold of the sides of her face. "Don't tell me I'm going to have to suffer with this now!"

"Calm yourself, child… Heed my call..."

"Wh- What?!" She frantically looked around to see where the husky voice came from, and when she had no success, she clamped her eyes shut. "No...Get out of my head… Get out of my head!" She kept shouting that, until she then heard the distinctly familiar sound of magic being used in front of her, and it made her eyes snap open.

That smirk… She had hoped not to see it again for a while.

"V- Validar?! No… Go away, leave me alone..."

"Tch… You shouldn't use such disrespectful manners… Especially not to your own _father!"_

That word made Robin's eyes grow extremely wide. "F- Father?… No! Th- That can't be possible!"

There was a laugh as the Plegian king then grabbed hold of her wrist, and then pulled her closer to him. "Oh, but it is… Daughter of mine… That mark upon your hand is more than enough proof! I am of Grima's blood… And only a child of mine could bear such a mark!" He laughed, before pushing the tactician away from him. "You should leave behind your companions, and join me, to rule over Plegia! It is Grima's will! You are a princess!"

"Stay away from me! Chrom! Frederick! H- Help!"

Her cries for her companions were enough to make Validar growl, before snapping his fingers as he left his daughter behind in the clearing, both shaking and crying.

She had wished to never be seen in such a mentally broken state in front of her allies at any point, but after what had just happened, she had no other option but for them to see her like that. She had sank down to her knees by the time that Chrom had ended up appearing. "Robin?..."

She shakily reached out and grabbed hold of Chrom's hand as she sobbed, and she broke down even more as she tried to speak. "I- I'm scared..."

"What?… Why, what happened?!"

"I- I can't explain p- p- properly right now… B- But… V- Validar appeared… A- And I- I just found out… I- I'm his d- d- daughter..."

Chrom's face filled with shock and horror as Robin attempted to completely make out that sentence, and he wasn't exactly sure on how to try and comfort her. He knew, however… That everyone needed her now, more than ever. It was essential for him to come up with a meaningful response.

 _Validar's daughter… No. Our Robin. That's who she is…_

"Just remember… You are yourself… You are yourself before you are any man's daughter. So come on! Snap out of this! We're under attack, and we need your help!"

Robin was able to force on a shaky smile at his words, and used her spare hand to wipe away her tears as she nodded. "Y- Yes… You're right… I'm better than this..." She then let go of his hand, and slowly rose to her feet. "S- So… We should go, shouldn't we, commander?..."

"H- Hey, don't call me that, it doesn't sound right from you… But yes, we should go..."

* * *

"We're just going to have to hold off the risen until Chrom and Robin show up!" Lissa panicked, now wielding a tome as the Shepherds realised that they were surrounded. She was quite worried though, considering that these risen were notably more… intelligent than any other risen that they had fought before.

"Ooooh, what's the caw-se of this caw-motion?"

The mystery voice of an unknown person enshrouded by a veil of crows made all of the Shepherds jump out of their skin then and made some get into a battle-ready stance, just in case this person happened to be an enemy.

"Reveal yourself!" Frederick's voice boomed out over the anxious murmurs of his comrades, and within seconds, the murder was quick to diminish as the birds flew away. "Why are you here? Do you have anything to do with this ambush?!"

"Aww, why are you being so hostile? I just was caw-ious as to what was going on, nyahaha!"

"Oh gods… That pun was terrible… Worse than Chrom trying to be funny..."

"Hey! I'm right here!"

The questioning of the white-haired dark mage was cut off by the sudden remarks from the sidelines, as both Chrom and Robin were finally able to emerge through some risen, which had been cut down in the process. Much to everyone's relief, they all finally poised themselves ready for battle.

Thankfully, by that point, the clear air as she spoke to Chrom on the way there was enough to snap the tactician back to her senses.

"Anyway… What are you doing here, boy?! Hide yourself!" Chrom shouted, noticing how everyone was becoming more on edge as the Risen slowly began to close in on them.

There was another cackle from the mage, before he began to grin even wider as he spoke. "Well… I was going to warn you about the monsters, but it turns out that you are all-fright! Hahaha, I slay me!" He laughed to himself for another few moments, before pulling out a dark tome as he continued to grin. "I would wish you all luck in killing these monsters… But… They're already dead!"

Robin still wasn't in the mood for this person's comedy act, and it was easily noticeable to some of the more aware Shepherds... Notably Frederick, who had kept his eye upon his wife ever since she arrived. He was quick to make his way over to her, and place his hand upon her shoulder. "You shouldn't be frowning like that. You _are_ the tactician, yes? The one which everyone looks up to, and are placing their lives in the hands of? Smile, Robin..."

She sighed, and slowly looked up at him with a weak smile. "I can only try… Let's just say… Tomorrow hasn't been a good day for me. Too many shocks, too many surprises… I'll probably be back to my normal self tomorrow. This is the best that I can do for now..." She then looked around, before her focus quickly turned back to him as she spoke again. "By the way… When Chrom finally sorts out that punny guy, and we're in the battle… Mind if I hitch a ride on your horse with you?"

"Robin… You are frustrated with his puns, yet you use one yourself?" The knight shook his head laughing, before he took hold of her hand and helped her up onto his steed. "I am assuming that you have somewhere on the battlefield that you wish to go to in mind?"

She nodded, and pointed towards an old bridge nearby. "You and me, as well as Chrom and Sumia should go up there. There is a bigger risen there – seems to be a leader. They seem to have taken roles of responsibility now… They're getting smarter. Nothing we can't handle, I am hoping..."

* * *

"This risen can't last much longer!" Chrom shouted as he swung his sword yet again, hoping that it would do the trick in fighting the leader of the undead fiends which they were still fighting come the early hours of the morning.

Robin looked up onto the bridge with Frederick, and frowned. "We should hope! I don't think we can hold this lot off for much longer! They're just going to keep on coming until that one is dead!" She was noticing the exhaustion amongst everyone, so she was putting her hopes on Chrom finally killing the risen chief once and for all.

Both she and Frederick were having to take a brief moment of respite under the bridge, Robin throwing out attacks with her tome just in case any risen dared approach them. Sumia was attempting to help Chrom, but only from a distance with a tome whilst her pegasus was resting beside her. A group consisting of Lon'qu, Gaius, Tharja, Lissa and Cherche were dealing with any risen that were coming from the south, but already Gaius and Cherche were having to step back and allow Lon'qu, Tharja and Lissa, who were almost as exhausted, to fight off a majority of the risen. To the west was Stahl, Maribelle, Cordelia, Nowi and Gregor, all of which having to rely upon each other to keep themselves from falling asleep mid-combat. In the easterly direction, Virion, Olivia, Sully, Kellam, Donnel, Ricken and the mysterious Henry were also having to carry out similar actions as everyone else (though Henry was having fun, fighting with the pain of exhaustion) despite them coping much better with the risen.

"Robin, stop it now! You're going to collapse if you continue!" Frederick shouted as Robin slowly began to sink to her knees as she used her tome yet again. "Give me your tome, let me handle the risen instead."

She let out a small 'tch', before she dug her fingers of her right hand into the ground beneath her. "No… I need to be stronger. I need to..."

"Why exactly? Because if it involves you working yourself to the brink of collapsing from exhaustion, I shall not allow it."

"Because I'm that stupid Validar's daughter! And I don't want to let him take over my mind like that again!"

Frederick was slightly taken aback at the first thing Robin shouted, before his eyes narrowed at what she said after. "Robin, what do you mean? He _took over_ your mind?!"

Suddenly, the tactician began to cry as she felt Frederick's hand upon her own as he leaned down beside her. She did not want to think about what had happened just before the battle, but she could never keep things secret from Frederick for long, he was just too good at reading her thoughts and emotions after being married for almost two years. "Y- Yes… Just to prove that I was his daughter… Just to scare me into abandoning you all in order to join him..."

The two stayed quiet for a few moments, savouring the silence around them. Well, until they both had the exact same thought.

Silence was never good.

Frederick's hand then completely wrapped around Robin's, and he was quick to pull her up to her feet in order to run out from under the bridge to see if Chrom were okay.

Things looked okay at first, Chrom was leaning onto the edge of the bridge in an attempt to catch his breath. There was no sign of any risen, thankfully.

But there was a sudden voice which they heard, and presumably Chrom didn't. And of course, seeing the risen climb back up into view as it said this 'kill… prince…' line made their eyes grow wide in shock. They didn't have the chance to warn Chrom of the abomination going to attack him though, as it moved faster than their thoughts could gather.

"Father! No!"

* * *

"Hey, Bubbles… If that girl is _actually_ from the future, and _actually_ is Blue's daughter… Could that mean that your kid from the future could be here too?"

Frederick sighed at the fact that everyone was so tired, they weren't actually aware as to whether whoever they had taken to speaking to was awake. It seemed borderline drunk almost. Gaius trying to talk to the deeply sleeping Robin was one of the prime examples in his opinion, but that was likely due to the fact that the knight was _still_ harbouring dislike towards the candy crazed thief.

It was now morning, and it had only been about five hours since the battle had actually ended with the complete unmasking of the mysterious 'Marth' figure as Chrom's own daughter, just from the future. The girl's claims as to who she was were quickly validated, due to the presence of a parallel falchion which she was wielding, the brand within her left eye, and also the fact that Lissa and Chrom themselves had witnessed Lucina's arrival in their time from the future.

A majority of the camp were actually sleeping, were half-asleep, or trying to tend to their own injuries from the battling. The minority were wide awake, or were awake and going about their daily business for the morning after having actually got sleep as soon as the battle was over, the minority easily being narrowed down to Frederick, Lon'qu, Chrom and Lucina.

"Buuuuuubbles… Answer me!" Gaius threw a hard-boiled piece of candy at Robin with quite bad aim, but it was still successful at hitting the tactician. And unfortunately, it hit her right in the eye, waking her up, much to her annoyance.

She grumbled as she sat up, before grabbing hold of the piece of candy before Gaius even had the chance to. "I deserve compensation for my injury… Hmph." Robin then unwrapped it, and quickly ate it as she groggily looked at Gaius' eyes welling up in tears over the loss of a tiny bit of his sugar.

Things were quiet for a moment, before Robin stood up and noticed that Frederick was looking at her with an eyebrow raised. "That's quite the face, Freddy Bear… Anyway… I… Need some tea. Or a warm drink of the sorts… Or I'm just going to… Fall asleep again." She mumbled, before quickly kissing Frederick as she left in search of a drink to pull her out of her tired state.

Frederick couldn't help but notice the sickly sweet taste upon Robin's lips as she did that. The piece of candy which she ate must have been sweeter than it had looked… Either way, if it truly were overloaded with sugar… It wouldn't be long until she ended up almost overloaded with energy for a few moments, so he decided to quickly catch up to her as she walked away.

"Wait, Robin… I need to have a word with you over something." He had to find something to keep her in one place, in order to keep an eye upon her.

"Only if you wouldn't mind getting me my drink instead..." The tactician looked at her husband with her eyes half-closed then, before she leaned on him for a moment. "Actually… If you go with me as I get a drink, you can talk to me..."

The knight nodded, before carefully taking a firm grasp of her hand. He had so many questions for her over how she had managed to get herself into an almost traumatised state the day before, and over what had happened whilst he hadn't been with her, because it was quite obvious that _something_ had transpired.

Due to the various different questions which Frederick was asking her, the walk to get her drink felt as though it lasted at least ten times longer than it actually had done – not that she minded. She liked to listen to Frederick's voice, even if he were basically putting her under interrogation. On top of that, she was constantly getting distracted at seeing the tired states which almost all of her comrades were in, meaning that the two of them were constantly stopping so that Frederick could regain his wife's attention.

One question was enough to bring Robin to a halt in shock and worry though.

"And I assume… That the brand which I have seen on your hand before now is proof that you are not just Validar's daughter, but a former Plegian citizen and also a descendant of the Fell Dragon himself?" The worry and reluctance in Frederick's voice was enough to hurt her without her even having a chance to think upon what he had said, and also made her start shaking as she held onto herself tightly. Her fear of abandonment was returning. Of isolation. "Robin… I would never abandon you because of a mere marking, understand?… Because if I were to abandon you over that brand, I would have to abandon Morgan also. That is something which I could never bring myself into considering… You and our son are much more important than any Plegian bloodline."

Those words were the reassurance which the woman had been needing ever since the day before. Just the gentleness in Frederick's voice as he said that were enough to calm her down, and the words, alongside the thought of little Morgan, were enough to allow her to bring a smile upon her face. "Yes… It's nice to know that you think that… First time I've been able to smile properly since leaving Ylisse, actually..." A care-free laugh was then given from her, before she hugged Frederick tightly. "You know what?… Maybe I'll forget about the drink for now… I'll just… Fall asleep on you… You won't mind, right?..."

"Of course I would not mind if you did that. I'm just happy that I can see you smile before you do decide to sleep."

"Good… Well… Try and wake me up later then..."

* * *

"Yes, I'm sure! There are some ruins up north, and are filled to the brim with treasure from the Divine Dragon!" The gossip which the Shepherds had heard from the marketplace in a small Feroxi village that afternoon which they had travelled to once everyone had finally recovered from the battle, was very quick to catch everyone's interest. Just the idea of treasure from a being considered as a god was enough for them all to try and investigate into the rumours further.

"Know anything else?… Well, the ruins are apparently extremely cold and icy, and are actually easy enough to access with enough men, from what I have heard..."

"Many have tried, but many have failed to acquire the treasure!"

"The ruins are actually located beside a large field just up north, which in comparison to the ruins and the rest of Ferox, is actually rather warm!"

Those three responses were the most common ones which everyone was able to get, so it was quickly decided to feed Robin the information, give her a map, and then quickly get her to find a route there. After all, they did have time to waste until Plegia would be able to deliver their promised vessels to cross the oceans in.

"Robin, I say that we should try and go there before evening… After all, it isn't too far, is it?"

"Yes, I agree, Chrom… I'm finding these rumours of treasure quite interesting, despite not being any sort of treasure hunter! It could take us about three quarters of an hour to get there at most, so why not?" Robin grinned, quickly folding up the map which she had been given. "Treasure hunting is the perfect getaway from what has been happening over the past few days! It makes me feel… I don't know… More… Free, I suppose?"

Lissa grinned from the side, before looking between Chrom and Robin. "Yeah! I suppose you could say that it makes us all feel like children again!"

"Speaking of children… I've also heard rumours of a child being seen there also for the past few days. People are expressing their concern over it, but have been unable to access the ruins. They are confused as to how the child managed to actually get in..." Frederick stated from where he was stood by the entrance of the tent which Robin was being made to plan in. Hearing that gave them all the more reason to want to go to the ruins, so they had the word quickly sent out that they were heading there in a matter of minutes.

Unfortunately, what the villagers had told them was the exact truth. For one, the field which the ruins were beside was mysteriously warmer than the rest of Ferox. Two, it was at least a five-man job to try and move the rubble from the entrance. And three…

" _ **Gods, it is too damn cold!"**_ Robin almost screamed, holding her coat tightly around herself as she leaned against Frederick for warmth. She found the temperatures of Ferox just about tolerable now… But here? No, she was simply not able to cope. And of course, nobody but Frederick paid much attention to her wailing.

"Look! There's that child which you mentioned, Frederick!" Lissa gasped, pointing to a boy not too far ahead from where they were. However, the risen which were within the ruins were also about a similar distance away from him.

The shout from the princess was enough to catch the boy's attention, and he turned to face them in panic.

Robin could easily recognise him. This was the boy from what she could see when she was suffering with her headache the day before. Straight away, she turned to Chrom with a serious look on her face. She _needed_ to speak to him. "Chrom… Can you and everyone else deal with the risen? I'll try and get that boy to come with us to get out of here. Frederick will be with me, of course…"

The nod of the exalt's approval made the tactician then grab hold of Frederick's hand, before she turned to face him. "Come on, we're getting that child out of here..."

It took only a few moments for her to reach him, and he was quite obviously startled at seeing how fast that she had been able to reach him.

"Wh- Who are you?!" The boy sounded quite young, but also quite scared. Robin knew that both she and Frederick had to be careful when speaking to him, but they weren't even given a chance to say a word with what he had shouted next. "Wait a second… Mother! It's you! Finally, we can go home now!"

The word 'mother' brought Robin's mind to a stand-still.

"What?!"

* * *

 **So... Maybe, when I have almost completed this story (and that should hopefully be when I am allowed to use my hand properly), I will re-write this chapter in some sections, and the same goes for the previous chapter... Especially where it is dialogue heavy, I've noticed that I tend to rely upon dialogue too much at times (as I said at the beginning).**

 **So... I am _hoping_ that it is okay for you guys to all follow, favourite, review and whatnot... But thank you all for the support so far!**


	9. Emotional times

**Finally, an update! I'm finally able to write properly on my laptop, so my updates should become a bit more frequent now, but I do have another story on here to work on at the same time as this now!**

 **It's a bit of a shorter chapter than usual, but I could either stop here, or go on and make a massive chapter which, frankly, would be a bit too much for a single update.**

 **So... I hope that it's okay~**

* * *

"M- Mother?! No, that cannot be possible!"

Robin was now in a panic. She had just been called _mother_ by this boy who seemed to only be about six or seven years younger than her at present. Scarily enough, him also being the same boy which she had been envisioning as of late.

Frederick was also in a state of shock at hearing this also. Were he truly Morgan? _His son Morgan?_ After all, Chrom had his child from the future appear, who was to say that the same could not happen for them?

"But it is! Maybe you have just hit your head or something… We should get you home-" There was a sudden silence for a moment, before the child yelled out in pain, "Argh, now my head hurts!" He then grasped hold of his head as he tried to think about his home. A home which he had quite evidently forgotten about.

In this moment, Frederick had placed his hand upon his shoulder. "I am afraid to tell you that things are not as you think that they are, Morgan..."

The boy's face suddenly grew wide in shock, his eyes trying to process the fact that Frederick was holding onto his shoulder in such a way. "Who are you?! H- How do you know my name?!" Panic completely overtook him as he continued. "Wh- Why are you with Mother?!"

Robin was only just about starting to get her head around the situation as she heard that, and it shocked her beyond belief. This boy, claiming to be her son, was _unable_ to remember Frederick, yet was mysteriously capable of remembering _her_? How could that even be possible? Unless…

She had a strange thought then. _What if amnesia ran through her family?…_ _If it were even to be considered amnesia?… After all, he did remember her somehow… She had woke up without a single memory in the slightest_ _though, unlike him._

"I suppose it could be amnesia… A minor form of it though..."

Before anyone had any chance to say anything after that, the deep groaning of Risen had surrounded the trio, much to all of their annoyance.

"Kill… Future… Child..."

The risen which had groaned that made Robin and Frederick's eyes grow wide. They instantly knew that it couldn't possibly be Lucina that they were after, seeming as they could see her in the distance with Chrom and Sumia, with barely any risen in sight in their direction. They were going after this boy who was claiming to be Morgan. Despite being unsure of as to whether the claims which he was making were true, an overwhelming need to protect him flooded through their minds.

"… Frederick, I have a crazy idea, and it may just get us away from these risen, and towards the others…" Robin muttered, a quick little strategy forming in her head. "There is ice attaching the platforms around here, right? And all three of us here have some sort of long-ranged weapon, two tomes and a javelin. Plus, I have a sword-!"

Suddenly, this Morgan cut in and finished Robin's sentence for her, but in the form of a question. "We quickly make our way across the ice, as these monsters are slow, break the ice, and attack the ones that don't fall into that deep pit from a distance?" He grinned with satisfaction when Robin's face reverted back to its shocked state, but quickly wiped it away as he realised that when being surrounded by a group of enemies, smiling in such a way is probably not appreciated.

"Y- Yeah…"

* * *

"Huh?… I can't remember him too well, but I do remember him from seeing him every so often when I was very young..." Lucina stated, trying to find a way to answer the questions which Robin was asking her about the new recruit for the Shepherds. "He did vanish after a while, at about the same time which Grima was revived in the future… I only came across him one time after that, and he was working for the Grimleal against his will by that point… This _is_ Morgan, but… Not _that_ Morgan..."

The tactician stayed silent, before tapping her foot. "Maybe… He come from another timeline then?… Either way, all of this time travel nonsense is even starting to confuse me now..."

 _And it doesn't help with all of the other… family related revelations which I have gone through over the past few days…_

Lucina could see the worry beginning to build up on the tactician's face, alongside her slightly trembling hands. "Would you like me to get father to keep you company for a moment, maybe? Or Frederick?… Morgan?..."

"… No. I'll be fine. I would much rather spend time alone now, to try and think things over..."

The future princess frowned, before allowing Robin to have time alone with her thoughts.

 _This is Morgan, but not the Morgan from Lucina's timeline… Then does that mean that there are other timelines? One in which Grima is revived – Lucina's future of ruin – and possibly… One in which Grima is not revived?… That allows for other possibilities though… What about a future where Grima **is** revived, but Morgan isn't forced into the Grimleal, unlike what had happened to this Lucina's Morgan?…_

Robin then slammed her hand down onto a stack of books, before wincing at how roughly she had done that. "Tch… Maybe I should see whether Frederick can make heads or tails out of this…" With a nod, she began to venture around where the Shepherds had set up camp, in the hunt for her husband.

It was strange for her though, for normally, it would be Frederick seeking her… Not this way around.

After a while, it had got to a point where Robin was asking everyone which she came across as to whether they had seen the knight.

"Sorry Bubbles, haven't seen him since the fight."

"Um… Maybe he is checking on the weapons?…"

"I don't know, but… Maybe Lissa does?"

No matter who she went to, they hadn't seen Frederick since the fight had ended. He seemed to have almost vanished!

After a while, she basically gave up. Robin fell down onto a crate to rest her legs from the extensive battling as of late, before folding her eyes and looking up at the sky. "Hmm… There is almost always cloud-cover in Ferox, except here, the one place with fields and lots of nature… Strange..." She then closed her eyes with a faint smile. "At least we can't have a repeat of the snowstorm here, unless it were winter… I only have one good memory from that day..." Well, how could she ever forget all of that time she had spent huddled up to Frederick to lessen the risk of them ending up with hypothermia, leading into Frederick's rather… Awkward proposal to her.

The thought of that made her laugh quietly.

"Erm… That reminds me… I was just wondering as to how I could have forgotten you, father. I can remember mother as clear as day, but there is absolutely nothing in my head about you… Do you think that maybe you could help me get those memories back?"

That voice nearby made the tactician's eyes snap open. _That was Morgan._ And if Morgan were there… Talking to his father… That meant that Frederick had to be there! The thought was enough to make her jump back up to her feet and quickly walk to near where she could hear Morgan's voice.

She could hear a very faint chuckle from Frederick as she peered around from behind the tent near the pair, and she smiled. Her husband was definitely starting to embrace the fact that this boy was his son from a different time, and was quite evidently enjoying it too.

"I's be happy to try, Morgan. After all-"

"Yeah! Thanks so much, father! I can start preparing for when you do then! I can't wait to get started!" Morgan was grinning as he ran off then, before hearing Frederick's next remark.

"Well, he certainly is enthusiastic… Just like a particular woman that I know..."

With a small pout, Robin stepped out with her arms folded. "And he seems to be just as eager to prepare for little things just like a certain man that I know!" After that, she rose an eyebrow and looked straight at Frederick as he quickly took a moment to process the fact that she was present, and had witnessed the previous conversation. "He is so your son, Freddy. Honestly, you both look and act alike!"

"R- Robin! I did not know that you were-!" Frederick quickly shook his head, before he put on his signature frown to indicate that he was quickly going to try and overcome his shock by acting serious. "So? Did Lucina answer your questions?"

The woman gave a small nod. "It is Morgan… But not the Morgan that she knows. She only remembers him from when he was young – so she has memories of the next few months, maybe years with him – and also of when he is about this age too… But in her timeline, he is apparently a member of the Grimleal against his own will… He never came to this time with her, nor with any of her companions that she has mentioned." She sighed out, and grabbed hold of his hand. "Now I'm confused. This Morgan brings up possibilities of an infinite number of alternate timelines, and he could have come from any of them! And because of him only having memories of me, not even of locations, events, or even you, we can't even get the foggiest clue of where he came from, and what he is like, other than the fact that I'm alive, and then must have gone missing for him to be wanting to find me and 'take me home'..."

Her other fist was then clenched, and she had shut her eyes. It was a pathetic attempt to stop her from tearing up over her severe confusion, and from her overwhelming emotions. Frederick was easily able to see that this was doing something to her, so he carefully took hold of her balled up hand and pulled her closer to him. "Robin… You do not have to keep yourself bottled up like this, you know..." After that, he pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her. "It does not matter about things such as where Morgan came from, so please… do not get yourself stressed with things such as that."

"I- I can't help but be confused though! A- And… It makes me wonder as to how our son is… Y- You know… Our a- actual son from this t- time..." Following that was Robin in floods of tears. She just could not comprehend what was going on.

As that happened, however, Morgan re-emerged to try and talk to Frederick. He heard what the two had said about him, and how he brought about mysteries due to his unknown origins. It upset him greatly. "M- Mother… She's upset because… of me..." He whispered, unaware that Robin had heard his quiet mumblings.

The tactician sighed, before telling Frederick quietly that she would just take a second. She carefully walked over to where she could see the teenager, before sighing. "It's not because of you… It's because I'm a parent, you know… Seeing you made me think about how your younger self is… I could never be upset because of you.! You _are_ my son after all, and I don't care about timelines, because you are still my son..."

"H- Huh?!" Morgan suddenly looked up, his puffy red eyes growing wide at seeing Robin stood in front of him. "M- Mother, you heard me?!"

"Just as I presume that you heard your father and myself. Now, come here, I don't want to see my child crying… It'll make my own floodgates open again..." She laughed quietly, before embracing the young tactician as she began to cry some more.

It barely took a moment for the boy's arms to fly to around the woman's as he continued to let out his tears, but he had also began to laugh at the same time. "I- I bet that we both look pathetic! H- Hah!"

Robin nodded in agreement. "Yes… The most pathetic… Two teary tacticians..."

"And the knight who doesn't want to see the tacticians in tears." There was suddenly another pair of arms added into the hug, and they were strong enough to pull Robin and Morgan even closer together. "And you were saying about how Morgan ended up a lot like me, Robin?"

* * *

"Woah… They've managed to clear up the port already… There isn't any sign that we were in a big bloody-!"

" _Shut up, Lissa!"_ Robin screeched, throwing her tome straight at the princess. Just the thought of the blood and fighting which had happened there a few days ago were enough to send shivers up her spine. Reminders were not appreciated in the slightest.

Chrom sighed at the childish way in which Robin and Lissa had now started bickering, before looking over to the ocean. There were no sign of the promised Plegian vessels yet, so they were all still restricted to the continent. Not good – especially knowing that the Valmese had a whole fleet of soldiers heading towards Ferox as they were waiting. He knew that Validar was trying to test his limits with the Ylisseans. Well… More like testing his limits with Robin. There was only so much that the tactician could take, and the bombshell that he was her father almost pushed her right over that boundary.

"Tell her that she shouldn't throw her tome at me!"

"Well don't mention blood near me again! You know that I go into panic at the thought and sight of it, I feel sick enough thinking about it as it is!"

Another sigh was given before the exalt pushed the two apart. "Lissa, can you see if the ships are in the distance?" He then asked, in an attempt to get Robin on her own. The princess huffed as she did as she was asked, and the tactician was now fuming. "You should probably return to Ylisse, Robin."

There was a moment of silence, before Robin laughed. "Good joke, Chrom-!" And she was briskly cut off.

"I'm not joking. We're going to be at war again, and you panic at the sight of blood. Chances are, a lot of blood is going to be shed… Not to mention that you have been getting highly emotional about things recently. Maybe it would be best if you returned, and stayed with Morgan there for a bit. He is only young after all." The serious face that Chrom was pulling made Robin start to dig her nails into her palms then.

She turned her back, and huffed. "No. I couldn't possibly consider it. Yes, I would love to look after Morgan… But I would rather assure his safety by fighting for it. Better yet alongside my husband. On top of that... I'm responsible for everyone here. I was when stopping Gangrel, and I will continue to be when fighting Walhart. Plus… Morgan has showed that whilst he has a lot of experience with tactics, there are flaws in many aspects of his plans. I'm not saying that I'm perfect… But I have years of experience of applying tactics to battle unlike him." Chrom was silent as Robin had to take a moment to vent out her reasons as to why she could not even consider returning to Ylisse, but he still wished that she had possibly considered returning back home. "… I can imagine that you probably feel the same, to some extent. About the responsibility, and assuring the safety of your child… You're a leader and a parent too after all, Chrom..."

The two were silent for a moment, before the tactician noticed Lissa running over to the two of them. She seemed to have all but forgotten about the tome throwing incident, and seemed desperate to tell the two something. "We have to wait until next week! A Plegian messenger just approached me, and explained that conditions at sea when bringing the boats here are not the best, with many storms, so it is impossible until things have calmed down… But hey, at least that holds back the Valmese army too!"

Robin was angry at that, and her fingers dug into her hands even more. "N- Next week?! You've got to be kidding me!" She started pacing back and forth then, and was trying to process what was going on. They were stuck waiting here for a week, and they were expected to stay there for a week also. Nobody even had plans for things such as where they would stay overnight, and chances are, there wouldn't be enough places to have _every single person_ in the _whole damn army_ to stay here!

The thought of that was incomprehensible to her. And by the looks of Chrom's face, he wasn't sure about this either. "Great… It's getting dark now. What do you think that we should do, Robin?"

"Well, we're just going to have to leave town, aren't we? Go up to the north or to the east and set up camp, it's not as though we have much other choice, Chrom!"

"Why not south? There's a lot of-!"

"Plegia, that's why! Gods… And if these storms at sea really are happening, you wouldn't want to move closer to the eye of it, would you?"

* * *

Seeing Robin in yet another frustrated mood was beginning to become normal to Frederick – he knew that due to the stress of what had happened in the past, and also of what was going on at present, things were getting to her more than easily. She was sat on the floor of the tent that they were staying in just east of the Feroxi port, and was angrily tapping her finger on the ground.

It was gone midnight, and she had been sat there for about two hours by that point. Normally though… She would be mumbling to herself. This time… She was silent. That was possibly the only concerning thing about her mood at present to Frederick.

"Robin?..." Frederick knew that she needed to get some sleep in order to calm down and to relax, so he had to get her to try and talk in order for him to help her also. "Robin, you can't stay there all night. You have barely slept as it is over the past few nights, so you should rest..."

Robin stayed silent for another few moments, before looking up and closing her eyes. "But I'll suffer more if I go to sleep. I've had a horrible nightmare over the past few days… I would rather stay here, Freddy." She pulled her arms out of the sleeves of her coat after that, before pulling it around her body tightly.

"Nightmare?... How come you have not told me of this, Robin?..."

Tears began to pour down Robin's face as she was just about able to choke out her response. "B- Because… You... D- Die in it..." Moments later, she felt Frederick's arms around her as she wept. "I don't like th- thinking about even the possibility of a- anyone dying… Especially you..."

The comfort of having Frederick holding onto her whilst she was in such a state felt magical, though her emotions were preventing her from being able to relax in his embrace. In all honesty though, he felt like a teddy bear.

She had no qualms about mentioning that though. "Freddy bear… I need you to s- stay with me… P- Please don't leave me..."

Her husband stayed silent for a moment, before laughing quietly – partially at the nickname which he despised being used. "… I won't. If you and our young son still live and breathe, I will too, and I will most certainly stay by your side. I promise you that, Robin." After that, he pulled her up to her feet, before smiling. "Now, I'll let you off for tonight only with a lack of sleep, but only if you promise me one thing."

"Wh- What?..."

"You aren't to leave my side at all until the fighting begins, okay? Especially not tonight. I… Don't like seeing you as stressed as you have been as of late. Understand?"

Robin wiped some of her tears away, before rolling her eyes with a faint smile and a laugh. "Thank the gods that there was context there, Frederick… If you had said the whole 'especially not tonight' thing without what had followed… You could be implying something a lot more than just wanting to keep an eye on me! You know... Something which, when it happened the first time, didn't exactly go down too well for us once it was found out..."

"But why would that matter?… All that matters is that you're smiling again." The knight then gently kissed the tactician, before pushing some of her hair out of her face in a caring manner.

"You're back at going on about smiling? Typical…"

* * *

 **I hope that it was okay, and that I didn't make it seem a bit overly-emotional on Robin's part...**

 **So, please, if you wish, review, favourite, follow, whatever~**


	10. Time spent in camp

**So, this chapter is a bit short, especially in comparison to the others. But alas, other story ideas keep getting into my head and I have to keep writing them down... I'm going to try avoiding posting them until this story and possibly my other are completed though!**

 **Well, I hope that this chapter is okay...**

* * *

"We might as well train if we must still wait here, correct?"

"Say what? No way, I barely slept last night, and you know that!"

"But father-!"

"Geez! Haven't we fought enough recently?!"

"Yes… Relaxing would be better..."

It was four against one. Robin, Morgan, Lissa and Chrom were all unwilling to participate in any sort of training for the time being, considering that they had all been in combat a lot as of late. Frederick had a completely different idea in mind.

Robin had a different opinion to his on what everyone could do, which would both allow them to make the most of their current free time and also aid them all in their preparations. "Why can we not do something such as visit the market in town? Stock up on weapons, vulneraries and such?" After all, she had seen the state of the convoy the day before as they set up camp. The staves were worn down – the wooden ones even starting to chip away. Maribelle, Lissa, Anna and Libra all had splinters in their hands as proof, even if they were wearing gloves or not. Swords were all brittle and worn down beyond repair, with Chrom and Lucina's weapons being the only exception to that. In addition to that, tomes were falling apart; axes were far too blunt; bows were starting to just break, and lances were actually starting to dent and even completely bend.

They were not in a good enough state for training, let alone combat.

Chrom then backed the tactician up with a nod. "I have to agree with Robin. We can train with new weapons… Plus, I believe that some recreational time is in order… Maybe you could spend some time together as a family, just you, Robin and Morgan?"

"Yeah! Can we do that, father?!" Morgan was quick to grab hold of Frederick's arm, and look up at him with pleading eyes.

 _He reminded him so much of Robin. The way in which he was begging, and also the face he was pulling and even the tone of voice. Gods, the child had taken so much from his wife… But other than the hair colour, what was there of him?…_

"You know, it is considered a common courtesy to answer a question when asked, Frederick." Robin's voice was quick to pull him out of his thoughts about their son. She was rolling her eyes at him, and Morgan was beginning to look a slight bit upset at the lack of an answer. "Fine, I'll decide for you then. You two are going to have some father-son time together, and I… am going to visit the market then catch up on sleep."

"Huh? Wait, Robin, don't you-?!"

"See you two boys later!" The woman was quick to turn around and start walking away, with Chrom shrugging and following her straight afterwards, and Lissa waving bye to Frederick as she ran to catch up with the two.

And so, the father and son were left alone. It was quite obvious that Robin was wanting the two of them to get along, and find some common ground between them.

"So… Remember your promise, father? About trying to help me to remember you?..."

Frederick smiled gently, and nodded. Of course he remembered that, it was only promised the day before after all. "Yes… I do remember. Are you wanting to try and do that then?"

"Of course!"

* * *

Armed with many new tomes and books, Robin sighed as she finally got a chance to just sit down and relax. Chrom _had_ offered to assist her in carrying them when he realised the sheer amount which she had purchased, but she had respectfully declined. He was busy enough, carrying various other weapons which he had bought for the sake of training and also for the sake of battle.

"Frederick is probably going to be a bit annoyed that I spent all of my money on this… Oh well, I guess Morgan would want to read a fair share of these books too..." She shrugged her shoulders, and then leaned back against the crate of her other books and strategies as she picked up the first book from the pile beside her. "I suppose this could come of use once we get over to the other continent… A book with details about various locations of Valm, and with information about common weather conditions and such..." And so, she tossed the book into the crate.

All that she was really doing was sorting out the books into three piles – tomes for battle; books which would assist her when coming up with battle tactics, and books which could be read for her own entertainment when they encountered free time.

It took her another few minutes to sort out the books, before she yawned loudly. The sound of the breeze outside the tent was also starting to make her feel rather relaxed, making her more inclined to sleep. One thing was bothering her though, and that was the newly added sound of rain. The storm was now closing in on Ferox from Plegia.

Tiredly, she then threw off her coat before kicking off her boots, and then grabbed a blanket which was much thicker than said coat and pulled it around herself. She felt very comfortable like that, despite still leaning on the crate, simply because of the sheets around her reminding her of Frederick. The smell, the warmth, and even the pale blue colour which it happened to be, due to it matching the colour of his armour.

With a small smile, she then closed her eyes and allowed herself to drift off to sleep. Just as her eyes drifted closed though, she noticed two figures – blurry figures – open the flap of the tent and walk in. "Mother?… Huh, she must have dropped off! Well, she did say that she was going to sleep once she got back..."

"I guess that she is… I should get her off the ground though..." Frederick sighed as he picked Robin up then, but smiled at the peaceful look on her face. "This isn't the first time that I have had to stop her from sleeping in silly places either..."

The thought of the night where he had to move her after she fell asleep strategizing sprung to mind as he said that, and for some reason, made him laugh. This was just like Robin.

Morgan thought on what Frederick had just said, before the questions all started coming. "Not the first time? So… Does that mean you have been together for quite a while if this isn't the first time? Actually, when did you and mother first meet? Was it like… Love at first sight?" The boy was obviously quite interested on learning about the relationship shared between his parents, and Frederick found it almost funny at how inquisitive he was being – again with it being the sort of thing that Robin would do.

Of course, he had to answer these questions. Chances were, if he didn't answer, certain other people in the camp – specifically Lissa and a few others – would be more than willing to answer. "We've been married for around two years now… Known each other for three. And believe me, I despised her upon our first meeting."

" _Despised?_ Did she do something bad?"

"No. I could not trust her. An amnesiac who was distinctly Plegian and had absolutely no idea as to what their name was or as to where they were could not be trusted, and it annoyed me that Chrom and Lissa were open to taking her word." The knight sighed as he said that, not believing that he _actually_ had that attitude towards Robin. "I had it in my head that if she dared do anything even the slightest bit out of line, I would cut her down there and then..." As he said that, he noticed Morgan giving him wide eyes. Never had the boy been aware of the fact that his parents harboured dislike towards each other at first.

As Frederick then sat down, keeping Robin in his arms, the tactician stirred a bit as she ended up pulling the blanket around herself more. It was quite evident that she had unconsciously made herself rather comfortable in his arms then, and that she was now very deep in her sleep. "I feel rather pathetic thinking about that now… After all, she helped me to recover from one of my silly phobias not long after that time… I appreciated that quite a lot. But I realised that I actually cared about her after I barely made it on time to save her life from some hired Plegian assassins…"

"I… Think that I remember hearing mother say something like that in the past… Yes, she mentioned to me that after she almost got killed trying to save Ylisse's exalt, as she was saved by someone that she cared about… But she ended up with a fear of blood because of what happened too… Or something along those lines. I can't remember exactly..." Morgan suddenly stated, before he sat down beside Frederick. "You know, father, I wish that I could remember you from my past… That reminded me of the fact that I can only remember mother..." After that, the young tactician leaned in on his father's arm, and smiled. "But at least I can have memories of you now… Of you and mother..."

The knight himself then put on a small smile, and used one of his hands to ruffle Morgan's hair. "Yes. You can..."

Everything was silent within the tent for a while then, the only sounds present being Robin's light breathing and the rain hitting the canvas. It was nice for Morgan, to know that he was sat with his parents without having to worry that he was without anyone to turn to, just as he was upon his initial arrival to this time.

The silence was finally broken after this short while, due to Robin slightly opening her eyes. "Have I been asleep long?..."

* * *

It was late at night, and the full brunt of the storm had hit where the Shepherds were camping out. Robin was awake now, and leaning on Frederick's arm as she read her book in silence. Frederick had his other arm around her waist, and was keeping her close due to the temperature being deathly cold. Morgan had to literally flee to the tent which he was having to share with Lucina for the time being when he had decided to leave earlier.

"When you were asleep earlier… Did you end up experiencing that nightmare again, Robin?..."

A small shake of Robin's head was given, with a faint smile. "No… It was just a dream about us… And Morgan… As in our son in Ylisse, not the son with us… We were happy. Smiling. It was peaceful… A good dream. Not a nightmare in the slightest." After that, she slowly closed her book and put it down beside her. "And what were you and Morgan talking about when I was in the market, and then asleep?"

"At first we tried to see if he could remember me, but that was unsuccessful. So… We came here, and Morgan started asking about things such as how long we have known each other… Then he said that he could finally have memories of the three of us… Together..."

Robin then laughed quietly, before looking at her wrist. "It's because of this… that we started spending more and more time together..." Her fingers traced the scar, before she closed her eyes. "That, and us getting snowed into your tent..."

The two stayed silent then, at least until Frederick pulled Robin even closer to him and started running his hand through her hair. "It is so hard for me to keep my eyes off you, Robin… It was hard enough not being with you before after spending over two years almost inseparable..." After that, the tactician went and suddenly threw her arms around the knight, her eyes closed tightly.

She knew exactly what he meant… But her previous nightmares made her paranoid over what would happen if she did leave him without her. After all… If he died, she felt as though she would probably die on the inside too. Just become an empty shell of her present self. "I never want to leave your side… Just as we both said in our wedding vows." It took just a matter of moments for Robin to then rest her head in the crook of Frederick's neck, and dig her nails into his back as she tried to distract herself from her nightmares. "I love you..."

"Robin…" He wasn't sure on how to react, so he just did what his instincts told him and smiled at her as he pulled her arms off his back and kissed her hand gently. "So do I… I would never let my wife be alone, and I would most certainly not allow her to not know that I love her..."

Silently, Robin then took hold of his hands and smiled at him widely. "You are most definitely improving on trying to be romantic. That's probably the best highlight of all of the bombshells from the past few days..." Moments later, she leaned over to his ear with a small smirk on her face. "And you know what… We've not been this close to each other since Morgan was born the other month… After all, if one of us were sleeping, the other was looking after him..." Following this was then Robin quickly kissing her husband before he lay down holding onto her.

Neither of the two had felt quite this relaxed in months, and it was a huge relief before they were going to have to go back to war in order to save Ylisse yet again. "You make a good point, Robin… We haven't been this close for about a year now. But I am most certainly glad that we have this moment..."

"Oh? And why is that, hmm?" Robin raised an eyebrow, before she began to laugh. "Or am I going to have to guess, Freddy Bear?" She could feel the butterflies inside her stomach as she said that, before she started to laugh again, just from slight embarrassment. "Though… I'm not really in the mood to guess."

Also laughing, Frederick then pulled Robin to beside him and then kissed her forehead. "I won't let you guess… It's because I love my wife. Is that not obvious?"

" _Right..."_ Robin rolled her eyes then, before she shivered, and so pulled some blankets over them both. "I _know_ that you love me, but you're being very affectionate, so it's obviously something else too..."

"Hmm, I am going to have to get Stahl to stop showing you how to read faces..."

"And then what suspicions will get into people's heads?"

Frederick bit his lip then, before sighing as he pulled Robin as close as he could to him. "Why would such a thing matter? It is not as though they would have written evidence, _unlike the last time that we did this in camp..._ "

* * *

"S- So cold, n- not to mention wet! A- And we promised Frederick th- that we would be here b- by this time, and h- he isn't even h- here!" Lissa shivered, using Chrom's cloak almost like a blanket and coat to keep herself warm and dry as he too shivered. It was true though, as before he and Morgan had gone for shelter the day before, he had said 'we will start training at the crack of dawn, understand?'

It was an hour since the sun had rose, and everyone was getting impatient – some more than others. Particular people were trying to lighten the mood, but to no avail. "Nyah ha, maybe he got brutally murdered in his sleep last night!" Henry laughed, much to Morgan's horror. Lucina had to then quickly pull Morgan away from the dark mage, as she could see the young tactician's eyes start to narrow as his grasp of his tome tightened.

After a few moments of quiet discussion, Chrom sighed in defeat. "Everyone, just try and start training with each other for the time being… Me and Lissa will go and look to see if Frederick is in camp. Robin for that matter too..." People nodded to the exalt's orders (even though many were not going to do that, it was _far_ too early in the morning for them) just as he and his sister walked away.

"Chrom… Maybe this might have something to do with how tired and a slight bit stressed Robin has been recently… After all, Frederick does worry about her a lot at times..."

"No, that's not the case..." It was a sudden shock as Robin then ran over to the two, looking rather rugged – almost as though she had just quickly threw her clothes on just mere moments before. Her coat was held tightly around her and the hood pulled up over her head to protect her from the rain; her trousers were all creased and a bit filthy, almost as though they were the same ones from the day before, and on top of that, she was barefoot, and her feet were all muddy because of that. "Shockingly, he's come down with a cold because of being in the rain yesterday without his armour… I've been trying to persuade him to stay lying down for today…"

"Huh?! So… No training today?" Lissa gasped, grabbing the sleeve of Robin's coat, despite the tactician's attempts to keep her arms wrapped around her torso tightly. Chrom was quite relieved at that, there was no longer the tugging at his shoulders from Lissa using his cloak. "Robin, is there no training?!"

And then, the woman smirked. Lissa and Chrom took that as a bad sign. "Oh, you're training all right. Frederick said to get Sully to take charge alongside you, Chrom. _I'm_ looking after him, so _I_ am exempt. Have fun, you two!"

"D- Don't you want my help?! A- And maybe Maribelle's? Sumia's?! Stahl's?! L- Libra's?!"

Robin shook her head as she briskly turned around, before sighing loud enough for them to hear. "No, I'm perfectly fine. I've actually dealt with Frederick when he's ill before, and you _do not_ want to deal with it."

There was just one thing about what Robin was saying…

 _Frederick wasn't ill._

Using her knowledge of various different weaknesses which Frederick had accidentally exposed to her – a specific one being the threat to have all of his meals replaced with nothing but bear meat (as he could only tolerate it in small amounts now) – and also promising that she would help to make up for not participating in training that day by training for all of the next day, she had managed to persuade him into allowing them to spend some more time together alone.

Her only concern now though… Was Morgan. She had found a way to keep the healers away… But their son was a different problem entirely. He would be insistent upon seeing Frederick, to see if he were okay.

 _Maybe the prospect of contagion could keep him away?_

Either way, Robin then left to return to her husband as Chrom and Lissa turned the other way, to return to the others.

Chrom shook his head after that, before putting his arm over his sister's shoulders. "Don't worry, we won't do any training for long. However… You do need some practise with your tome, you were firing it everywhere the other day when we were trying to leave Carrion Isle..." The exalt then laughed, before looking at his sister's forlorn face. "Don't be so sad, okay? You weren't _that_ bad..."

Lissa then stopped, and worriedly looked down at the ground. "I'm just… Worried about Robin and Frederick… It's not normal for Robin to sleep so much, and I don't think that I have _ever_ seen Frederick ill before, in the seven years that we have known him from when he started training with you… I hope that they are okay..."

"They will be, those two always bounce back. Don't worry, okay? Just be optimistic and smile, right?"

"… Yeah. Okay!"

* * *

"Where I come from… They are dead. Chrom, Frederick, the entirety of the Shepherds… Here, they are alive… Time travel is such a strange notion..." The Robin lookalike mused, gazing over at the large skeletal remains resting upon the horizon. "And considering that if those children had surrendered their lives to me, they could have found peace in death alongside their parents rather than going through the effort of trying to 'challenge their fate' by 'changing the timeline'!"

She closed her eyes and shook her head as she then heard the storm brewing from the coastline to the west, and that was followed with a smirk. "They can't change things… Exalt Chrom will die… The Fire Emblem will be lost… I will rise _**again!**_ And little Robin can't do anything about it, she can't escape fate… And neither can that Lucina and her silly companions, for that matter..."

After that, she cackled loudly as a crash of lightning struck the skull in the distance. "I can't wait for Validar's plan to fit into place…" And then a smug grin formed upon her face. "Or my name is not Grima, the Fell Dragon! Now then… I must see how Aversa is doing in twisting that stupid little worm Excellus around her fingers in Valm..."

* * *

 **That's it for this slightly shorter chapter... And as I said on my other story on here, I'm going to try and alternate between updating the two, so expect this to be updated in about a week/two weeks?...**

 **I am hoping that it's okay to favourite/follow/review!**


	11. The nightmare

Morgan was laughing as he was able to deflect yet another attack from Lucina, who had decided to ask him to train with her due to also being of the future (even though they knew that the possibility of them being from different futures was there) and also because of them being two of the very few Shepherds willing to participate in training.

"You had better watch out!" He taunted, holding his tome out in preparation to attack. Yes, it was unfair that Lucina was using a sword whilst he was fighting with magic, but the future princess was doing well enough at dodging his attacks.

Unfortunately, just as he went to carry out his attack…

"Father!" Lucina was quick to notice Chrom upon his arrival, and briskly pushed past Morgan to go and see him. "So, have you found them?"

The young tactician ran over to him then, hearing his comrade's question regarding his parents. His eyes were open eagerly to know if there was any sign of them in camp. Chrom noticed it, and was quick to respond. "Well… They're both in camp, but… By the sounds of things, getting caught in the storm yesterday has actually made Frederick come down with some sort of illness. Robin has decided to look after him herself."

Hearing that made Morgan's eyes grow even wider than they were, before he tucked his tome into his coat and quickly turned to Lucina. "I'll be back to train in a minute… I need to see if father is okay!" And with that, he began to run to the opposite side of camp, to where he knew that his parents had been staying. He had only just been able to meet his father, and now he was _ill?!_

Despite the fact that it was still raining and was also rather cold, he still picked up the speed to try and see if Frederick was okay. He just wasn't expecting to slip in mud just outside their tent, and crash into the ground with a loud thud. "Ouch!"

The sound of the boy falling managed to suddenly distract Robin and Frederick from their small conversation which they were having, and they exchanged confused glances. The woman wasn't aware of anyone other than possibly Chrom and Lissa roaming the camp, so she had absolutely no idea as to who it could have been, so she slowly walked towards the tent's entrance. "Just give me a second..."

Opening the flap of the tent, Robin then noticed Morgan lying upon the floor, struggling to pull himself up. It looked as though her son was hurt, so she knelt down beside him and took hold of his arms to help him sit up. "Morgan… What on earth were you doing?" she inquired, but shook her head afterwards. "Hey, Frederick? It was Morgan! It looks as though he has slipped in the mud… Should I-"

"We don't have to keep the act up around Morgan, Robin." Suddenly, there was a firm hand placed on the young tactician's shoulder, and he quickly looked up and noticed Frederick stood there.

Robin sighed, and helped Morgan up to his feet. "Well, if you insist…"

"Mother? Father? What's going on?..."

"We'll explain inside our tent. We don't want anyone to realise that your father isn't actually ill..." The couple quickly pulled their son inside, just as he gave them both a highly confused look. Robin then laughed at his face, just as she gestured for him to sit down so that she could take a look at his leg, due to it being his leg which stopped him from getting up without help just outside.

Morgan did as Robin wanted him to, before he looked over at Frederick with concern. "So… You're not ill, father?… Then… Why was Chrom told that you were?"

"Easy. We both realised last night that since your younger self was born, neither of us have spent much time with one another, so we're making up for some of that time now. Plus, your mother insisted upon replacing all of my meals with bear meat if I didn't do this." Frederick seemed a slight bit bothered when he mentioned the part about the bear meat, but he seemed extremely proud when he mentioned the younger Morgan.

The teenager smiled when he heard that, before laughing. "I guess that I am quite a handful then, just like mother!"

" _Excuse me?!"_ Robin rapidly grabbed hold of a tome, and exchanged glances between her husband and son. " _A handful?!"_ Morgan then pointed at Frederick, the grin fading from his face slightly. Robin holding a tome with a face like thunder was actually terrifying to him, he had never seen her like that before.

Frederick sighed, before shaking his head. "Don't we have more… pressing matters to attend to?" He nodded towards Morgan's leg then, and then frowned. "Because really, Morgan should be with the others, training..."

Robin then dropped the tome, before she then began to laugh. "You're still explaining about me being a handful once Morgan goes back…" It took her a few minutes to tend to her son's leg, and following that, she helped him up to his feet. Then came the stern glare. "Right… I need you to promise me something, Morgan. If any word gets out that your father and I are shirking our responsibilities just for today, you will be held fully accountable, okay?"

"Y- Yeah… So… I guess that I will see you both tomorrow then?..." The young tactician then stood up, laughing awkwardly as he quickly walked to the tent's exit. "Anyway, I'm so glad that you're actually okay, father! Haha, see you!"

* * *

"As if…" Robin lay half-asleep, fumbling to grasp hold of Frederick's hand. "You're my husband… I wouldn't let you wonder out into danger in a way such as that..." She then finally was able to take hold of him, before she closed her eyes. "You're staying by my side whilst in Valm… And if not alongside me, most certainly alongside Chrom or Morgan..."

"And if I were to say no?"

"I know at least two dark mages who could make you change your mind without you even realising..."

Frederick rolled his eyes at Robin's insistence that he were not to stay at the direct front lines the entire time in which they were to be in Valm, but he knew not to go against her word too much, seeming as she _was_ the tactician after all. He pulled her closer to him, before pulling some blankets around her tightly. She was shivering, and wasn't wearing much besides that. "Fine then… I will stay by your side… Unless, of course, there is a drastic need for me with the others."

"Obviously..."

The sound of people walking around outside, going about their daily business whilst they were lying down together seemed… Strange for Robin. Normally, she would be out there with them… But this time was probably the only exception. "If you happen to be so tired, Robin, why don't you sleep?" She was cut off from her thoughts by her husband's voice. "Come on, you clearly need to rest."

She grunted quietly, before she grasped hold of his other hand. "We are putting on an act so that we can spend time together… I'm not sleeping though this one day which we have managed to wrangle out!" The tactician then pulled Frederick closer to her by the shirt in a rather brusque manner, narrowing her eyes as she did so. "Don't expect me to go to sleep until at least lunch time, understand?..." After that, she carefully released her grasp and then smiled gently. " _Though…_ I _may_ change my mind through a little persuading..."

"Robin, please, you're too tired-"

"Pegasus dung."

"What?!"

"I'm not tired, that's pegasus dung. And don't act shocked… You said the exact same thing over my amnesia when we first met, Freddy Bear..." Robin then laughed as her hand trailed his face gently, and she leaned in and kissed Frederick gently. "I'm not as polite and obedient as I make out to be… And the same can go for you!"

Frederick then took his turn to laugh. "I wasn't shocked at the use of the phrase, it was more shock through you grinning from ear to ear as you said it…" That then made Robin laugh even more. _He always focussed upon her smile, didn't he? In over two years… There hasn't been a day where he doesn't mention it. Frederick had probably never let her telling him to smile go._

There was then a silence between the two for a few minutes, with Robin trying to make herself as comfortable as she could beside her husband. They both savoured this time alone which they had, and nothing made them want to ever leave it… Except maybe if they were with their young child, that was. But alas, he was still in Ylisse, hundreds of miles away…

Without even realising it though, Robin was quick to then fall asleep, despite what she had been previously saying about not going to sleep until much later. _So much for spending time together…_

* * *

"Look at it! Burning down! Hah… Just like the hopes of a future..." The woman who was speaking – a nameless woman – was laughing at the city before her, brought to the flame at the hands of some of her companions. She had vague recollections of some memories past, but she was completely unsure on as to how they were able to fit in together. Either way, she simply did not care. After all… 'What is in the past should stay in the past' was a phrase which she commonly said.

She had a tome in her hand, quite evidently dark magic. _Powerful at that._ Anyone who even dared hide from her would be met with a blast from it, their bloody corpses being the only remnants. Not even children had been spared from this fate. By her side was a sword, being saved for her 'specially selected' targets. _The people she could recognise from her very few memories._

"Master… We have been able to clear a path to where you requested to go..." The voice of one of her loyal followers rang out from before her, making her smirk. _Everything was working out to her plan. Soon… She would have what she came here for._

With a small cackle, she nodded before opening her tome. "Good… I appreciate your effort. Now, leave my sight. Permanently." Within seconds, the charred remains of the messenger lay before her, prompting screams from nearby. _Obviously some more locals hiding. They had to be removed from the picture._ "No use in hiding… You will all meet the same fate!" Another large blast was fired, and what was left afterwards was nothing but the sound of flames crackling.

She didn't care if she killed, nor did she care if she carried out a massacre, the likes of which never seen before. The woman only had her one aim, everything else was irrelevant.

"Hey! The hell is up with you?! You've changed-!" A sudden voice from behind made the woman laugh, and she was quick to turn around as a lance narrowly caught the sleeve of her outfit. "Quit the crap, and fight me instead of hurting these people!"

"Impressive. You're about the closest anyone has ever got to killing me… I have to congratulate you at that. But I have come here for something, and I shall be leaving with it once I am done with you..." She then pulled out her sword, and began to laugh. "It has been a while since I've used my sword..."

The person who she was fighting was most definitely in her memories… One of her earlier memories too. As a matter of fact, she even had a name for her opponent. However, she couldn't rack her brain for it. After all, what would it matter? One of them would be dead once this fight was over… And she had no intention of it being her.

The lance was suddenly thrust towards her again, but she was able to block it with a quick movement of her arm. It was only an iron lance, so in comparison to her silver sword, it was nothing. The lance continued to be threw at her for another few minutes, and all that she could do was smirk as every single hit was blocked. "Damn it! Just die already!"

"Why die, when I could conquer?"

"You aren't the woman I knew! The woman _we_ knew! Why can't you stop with this crap and come back to us?!"

"Because the woman you knew is dead… And now you are too!" She rose her sword, watching as her opponent went into a defensive stance with the lance, by holding it in front of their chest. She never aimed for the chest though, so the action was pointless. In a matter of seconds, the challenger's neck was slashed at, and there was blood coating the weapon within a matter of seconds. "Have fun with your friends in death… Sully."

The cavalier's body limply fell down to the ground then, and the lance rolled out of her hand towards the woman's feet. Another person was out of the way, and she was one step closer to getting what she wanted. And the building just ahead had exactly that…

Slowly, she paced towards the building, a smirk growing wide upon her face. There were no signs of life nearby. Chances were, if there were any survivors, they were either hiding where she was planning to go, or they had long fled to elsewhere. "I wonder whether a fight will be put up here..."

And what a surprise, once she blasted down the door, she was being expected. Well, it was quite evident that she was heading there next, it was the only place which was currently unscathed within the town. She remembered the place well from her memories too… A secret palace within Ylisse. From what she had heard, some of the Ylissean royal family and a few of their compatriots had fled there once she began to cause chaos within the continent.

One of these people were her target… The only person who she needed alive, basically.

"Petty… You protect him, but you know that you will lose your life in doing so! Silly, isn't it? Now, why don't you run off whilst I get what I need?"

"Forget it… You are not my master, so don't talk to me like that! I will stop you!" _Now that voice was just as familiar as the one before… No. It was far too familiar… A voice which, to her, had spoke to her upon a daily basis…_ "You are not going to take him! You are not going to hurt him! Leave before I kill you!"

She swung her sword around, in a position poised for battle. "I do not care as to what you say… I will do as I wish, and if you forfeit your life in the process, so be it!" The flames from nearby were slowly approaching as the other person pulled out their weapon, and the woman smirked. If she were unable to kill him… The flames would.

"You have one chance! Stop this immediately, and I can spare you! Please… Morgan needs his mother! And I need you, Robin!"

"Shut up and die, Frederick!"

* * *

Robin screamed as she suddenly bolted up, shaking her head sobbing as her commonly experienced nightmare ran through her head. As she struggled to steady her breathing, her hands were suddenly grabbed hold of.

"Mother! Calm down! It's okay, you're awake now!"

"M- Morgan?!" Robin shakily noticed her son sat beside her, giving her a concerned look with wide eyes as he tried to keep a firm grasp of her hand. "Wh- Where is-?!"

Frederick quickly placed his free hand upon her shoulder, and then tightened his hold of her hand. "Don't worry, I'm right here…"

It took a few minutes for Robin to be mostly brought back to her senses after that, and Morgan looked down at his hands as her tears had been quelled. "I'm… Sorry, mother..." He then noticed that she was giving him a confused look, so he had to explain why he was apologising. "Whilst you were asleep… You got all hot and sweaty, and you were muttering to yourself… Both me and father were really worried, so I had to tell someone that you needed help, because you weren't waking up… And I blew your act over father being ill..." Suddenly, once he had finished explaining, he burst out crying and hugged Robin tightly. "I'm so sorry, mother! I know that you wanted time alone with father but I ruined it!"

"Don't be silly!" The two adults then shouted at the same time, before Frederick hugged them both.

"I was having a nightmare, Morgan… It had absolutely nothing to do with you, okay?… The only thing which happened to do with you was your father protecting you in the dream, okay?" _She never mentioned the part about her trying to kill Frederick whilst he was protecting him from her. "_ An all too familiar nightmare also…"

"… Morgan, go and tell everyone that she is awake." Frederick suddenly put on his stern voice as he spoke then, making their son feel more inclined than he wanted to be to do as he said. Once he had left, Frederick frowned as he ran his hand through her hair. "Right… I know that you may not want to… But I want you to tell me what happened in the nightmare. I… Heard you mutter something about death quite a few times… Not to mention a few names… Please, Robin..."

"O- Okay then..."

* * *

"… Gods, your parents are pyromaniacs, kid." The first words which Gaius had ever spoke to Morgan ever since the boy had joined the army, and it _just had to be him pointing that out._ "Next time your mother tries to set the ocean on fire… Tell her to be careful of the goods. The sweet goods, I mean. All my candy has got all sticky in my pockets!"

Raising an eyebrow at the candy thief, Morgan couldn't help but express his confusion. "Um… Sure thing..." _And this man was one of his mother's closest friends, apparently._ But then again… It wasn't every day that you witnessed the entire ocean be set alight like that. _Nor did you ever see a man who got paid in candy exclusively…_

"… I'm fine. I am sure that I can cope with this, okay? We can go home once this is over, and hopefully, it will be over quickly." The young tactician turned around upon hearing Robin's voice, and noticed her talking to his father and also Lissa. It was obvious that she was being asked as to whether she could cope… but he had no idea as to why they were asking that. He was aware of her panic at seeing blood at times, but not much else. _Maybe something else had happened that he wasn't aware of?_

Either way… The boy still listened in to the conversation.

"But what about your fath-?!"

Robin bit her lip before cutting off the Ylissean princess. "… I don't really want to think about him, Lissa… Something about him… Well, it got my defences up anyway. King of Plegia or not, I don't exactly _trust_ him… He was involved in the first assassination attempt on Emmeryn the other year, after all…"

 _That was his grandfather they were talking about… But he's the king of Plegia?… That would make his mother a princess… Would that mean he – well, his younger self – happened to be a prince then?_

Those thoughts were quickly shaken off though, as he heard more talking. "Anyway, I agree with Robin. I hope that this war is over quickly. I would much rather be in Ylisse, watching our son grow up. He needs his parents, and so does the young princess Lucina… I have no doubt that you would be wishing to be at home too, princess."

"Yeah… I miss Ylisse a lot. I mean, it's so warm there! And here, at sea?… It's too cold!"

"Are you wishing to stay near my horse again, to stay warm?"

" _That was two years ago, Frederick!_ Geez! You're just as bad as Chrom!"

"Hah, you two bring the perfect comedy relief to all the seriousness as of late..." Robin chuckled, before she became aware of Morgan listening in to the conversation due to him casting glances at the trio whilst grinning. "And I have a feeling that Morgan agrees!"

* * *

 **There isn't exactly much for me to say... Other than that I hope that this chapter was good enough!**

 **I hope that you're willing to follow/favourite/review!**


	12. Deprivation

**Ugh, god, my mind keeps going blank for this story in terms of wording, despite having everything planned out to the end... So (yet another) short-ish chapter...**

 **Anyway, I am hoping to try and get this story to 20 chapters before ending it, and with what else I have planned, it should just about work out. So... I am hoping that this chapter is okay...**

* * *

"Are you sure of this, milady?"

"Yes… About as sure as the fact that your arms are around me, and that you are aware of me not being royalty, henceforth not requiring a name such as 'milady', Frederick..." Robin put on a small smile then, before kissing her husband carefully on his nose. "I have never been so sure about anything before. Our son _most definitely_ has eyes for Lucina."

The discussion about their future son had been very fruitful that afternoon, during the Shepherds' slow journey south in order to disrupt the supply chains of Walhart's empire. "Even Chrom and Sumia have noticed the way in which the two have been acting towards each other-"

"I would say that they were like that to have some respite from Inigo and Owain. Those two are rather… Peculiar characters."

Ah, yes, two of the three new recruits to the Shepherds. Inigo and Owain. And Frederick happened to be correct, they were rather peculiar. Inigo was the polar opposite to his father, Lon'qu, and rather than trying to avoid women as much as he could, he was at them faster than a sword could be unsheathed. And Owain? Well, he had a sweet tooth like his father, and also had a strange affinity for yelling about his 'sword hand' with his strangely named swords. The last recruit was Brady, but he was thankfully more… Sane than the other two.

Robin sighed when she thought about the growing collection of children which they had joining them, before she put on a small smile. "I suppose so, yes… But he could also have gone to speak to Brady, yet I have barely seen them interact. I am sure about this, but who are we to pry in others' business? We wouldn't want to wish upon our son similar sorts of situations which we ended up in when people began to assume that we were in a relationship..."

After about half an hour of continuing small conversations on various topics, such as wondering how their young child was doing in Ylisse, and how long that they thought that this war would last, Robin began to feel her stomach rumbling. She hadn't ate yet that day. Happily, she then walked outside, leaving Frederick behind to make sure that their weapons were in a good enough state for use, in her search for food.

The joy on her face was quite evident when she located the mess tent, and could smell the aroma of something delicious cooking. "Oh! Hello, Robin! It's a lovely morning, isn't it? Are you here for something to eat?" The cheerfulness of Sumia was definitely confirmation that something nice was being baked.

With a nod, Robin walked over to the pegasus knight and peered over her shoulder to see what she was doing. "Is that… an apple pie?" Curiosity was steadily beginning to get the better of her. "It looks nice… Could I-" She slowly reached out her hand, but it was briskly slapped away.

"No! This is for later, after training, Robin! You'll have to eat something else for now!"

Following that was a small huff and folded arms. "I have _Frederick_ for a husband. A majority of my life whilst out here _is_ training." It was true though. When they weren't in combat against either the Risen or the Valmese, Robin was doing one of strategising, running errands, attempting to spend time with both Frederick and Morgan, or training. Most of which, due to her outright refusal to use a weapon other than a tome since what had happened in the Feroxi port, happened to be the fourth option.

The tactician had her hand slapped away yet again when she attempted to reach back out for some of the pie, so she decided to give up. "I guess that I will have to stick with the fruit rations which we have then..."

Sumia awkwardly laughed when Robin said that then. "So… You'll never guess what… But I kind of… Tripped over with some dishes before… And all of the fruit had to be threw away because of the many shards of ceramic that got caught in them..."

" _ **What?!"**_ Robin stopped speaking for a moment to let out various different frustrated sounds and a 'lovely' concoction of vulgar words, the most appropriate of which being "What sort of gods damn crap is this!?". After a deep growl, she brought herself back to a calmer state, emphasis on 'calmer'. "What's a tactician meant to eat then?! I haven't ate yet today! I've been that busy sorting out our strategy for when we fight Yen'fay, I completely forgot about eating!" With a groan, she sat down on a wooden crate and buried her face into her hands.

Wanting to find a way to perk up the tactician, Sumia began to quickly look around. "Hey… There's some of your favourite soup stored away here from yesterday! There's a flame over there, why not reheat it and eat that?"

"Hmph. No. I'm not in the mood to eat it… It's basically the only thing that I have ate over the past few days because of it repeatedly being made! I need something different… Maybe I'll see if there is a nearby town that sells some fruit in order to restock the rations..." She then stood back up, and walked outside, biting her lip when she heard a severely apologetic 'goodbye' from Sumia. Her only option was to retire back to hers and Frederick's tent, due to it being the only place other than Chrom's tent which had a map within it.

A firm hand grabbing hold of her arm was capable of stopping her in her tracks when she was trudging back, and she was quickly pulled around to face the hand's owner. "R- Robin, we're in trouble! Risen have suddenly attacked the northern side of the camp!" Of course Chrom would have gone straight to her...

"Damn it! Can I not have _one moment_ where I can just _eat_?! Fine, let me grab my tome and I'll help you out with dealing with them..."

She marched into her tent as quickly as she could, and noticed that Frederick was no longer in there, and neither was his armour and lance. He must've finished maintaining them and had gone to assist in the effort against the cluster of Risen. Once she had took in that Frederick wasn't there, she picked up her tome. Well, a new tome. It seemed that her old, scruffy one had been replaced, thankfully. Using the same tome for training and for actual battle wasn't exactly the most… efficient of things to do.

Picking up the tome was followed by a deep sigh. She felt as though she were _starving._ Robin was perfectly aware that she needed to stop eating the bare minimum to keep herself going, especially when she knew that there were many serious fights steadily approaching, such as one that they would hopefully stand against their new comrade, Say'ri's older brother.

"I hope that this fight doesn't take too long..."

* * *

"Insufficient energy levels, that is my suspicion... If we are to rely upon what was said by Frederick, Sumia and milord, it is more than likely. A lack of food, followed by straining herself with combat… It's no wonder that she collapsed mid-battle." Libra stated, looking at the lightly breathing body of Robin before him. "When she wakes up, she _must_ eat something, and she must preferably rest for a few hours." Upon that being said, the healer was quick to leave, seeing the concerned faces of those present.

Everything had been going relatively smoothly before defeating the risen's leader, allowing the ones remaining to scatter about, confused on what they were attacking. However, the Shepherds became almost as confused when Robin had ended up succumbing to her deficient energy in the middle of the battlefield. It it weren't for Morgan and his knowledge of tactics – even though they were simple ones which he had little experience of applying to actual combat situations -, chances were that the camp could have been entirely overrun.

There was but one agreement in camp whilst the tactician remained unconscious…

This was not the tactician's year.

Having to leave her son behind in Ylisse due to a new breakout of war; discovering that someone who had attempted to kill Emmeryn was now king of Plegia, with this someone also happening to be _her father;_ a growing phobia of the sight of blood, and now she was half-starved and unconscious after having collapsed mid-combat.

"Yeah, I say that Robin will be fine once she's ate something! It's not like that time where she was almost murdered by those assassins in Plegia the other year, after all!" Lissa grinned, trying to cheer up everyone who was looking at Robin. She was met by a harsh glare from Frederick, a panicked look from Morgan, and a slight bit annoyed face from Chrom that was clearly saying 'now is not the best time to bring that up…'.

Things were rather quiet for a few minutes, with nobody daring to make any sort of eye contact or even considering to start up a conversation to make time pass faster. It was rather awkward, considering that normally, the group that was present would normally be talking between one another when they were together.

"Gods… It's not as though I'm on my deathbed, is it?..." The sudden voice was a shock to them all. It was rather rugged and slow, indicating tiredness. "You're all being quiet and forlorn, and that isn't like any of you... I've been awake for a while, and I was waiting for someone to, you know, talk before I opened my eyes..." Robin continued to grumble for a moment, keeping her eyes shut as she remained lying down.

"Mother!" Morgan was quick to dive at the tactician, hugging her tightly. The shock of it was enough to make her open her eyes, before she carefully embraced her son as he wept. "Don't fight when you're really hungry again, okay?! I got really stressed trying to tell everyone what to do in your place because I was worried about you!"

"Hah… I won't, I won't… I promise." She chuckled for a moment, before stretching out her arms as she sat up. "Speaking of which… I'm still hungry… And if there is any pie, I'm not letting Sumia keep me away from it this time! I'm not eating any leftover soup! Again!"

* * *

"Ah, I finally have my-!"

"Checkmate! Haha!"

"Oh… Gods damn it, I lose again!" Lucina was sulking as Morgan was attempting to play a game of chess with her as a distraction to pass the time, about two days later. The young tactician said that he was going to teach her what to do… But he seemed to be savouring his repeated victories against the princess. "Is there something that I keep doing wrong?"

Morgan looked at the board, before pointing at one of Lucina's pieces. "You left your king alone, and it was open to my pieces. Plus, you wouldn't have been able to move any of your pieces on time, so if I didn't get you to checkmate this turn, I would have done it next turn. Put simply, that is..."

The princess sighed, and shook her head. "I've always been better at actual combat, not simulating battle with a rather confusing board game… How about we try things out my way this time, Morgan?"

"Sure!" Morgan wouldn't mind doing some training. He had, after all, been sat down for most of that day. However, as he reached out to grab his tome, Lucina grabbed hold of his wrist firmly. "No magic?… Boo..."

"You burned my arm last time, because you used powerful fire magic! Wooden swords. That is all."

"Fine… But next time I can use magic, okay?"

"Sure, just make sure that it isn't powerful!"

Peering over at the pair was a small collection of people. Robin was with Frederick and also Chrom and Sumia, just so that she could prove a point about their two children. Frederick and Sumia were sighing, whilst Chrom was in agreement with the tactician. The group were not aware of one thing though… The pair were perfectly aware of their presence. And they had a way to deal with it. "You know, Lucina… I reckon that it is such a shame that my mother and father aren't here… I bet that mother would be over the moon with how I did at chess, and that father would be so proud that I'm doing extra training..."

The young tactician's parents gulped. Both statements were accurate. Robin truly was 'over the moon', as Morgan had put it, that he was doing so well at a game which they played in their spare time, even though he _was_ exploiting the fact that Lucina was puzzled at the concept of the game. Frederick was glad too that his son was doing more training than he had made the boy do earlier that day, indicating that he had _at least_ got something other than his hair colour from him.

"Yes, I know how you feel, Morgan… Father would like that I'm keeping up for our private training sessions! Plus, my mother would appreciate that I did something other than fighting, and that I was trying to get along with a comrade…"

That was the time for Chrom and Sumia to worry a slight bit, because of the truth behind that too. Lucina doing extra training, simply so that she could eventually triumph over Chrom in practice, and then the fact that she was cooperating and getting along with a comrade in ways alongside fighting was enough to make Sumia feel overwhelmed with joy.

The parents were forced out of hiding due to that, and they weren't impressed. In the slightest. The two were cunning… Very cunning indeed.

* * *

After even longer in Valm, no more than about a month, morale was low within camp. There wasn't much happening in the long journey north to finally stop Walhart from trying to take over the Valmese and Ylissean continents. Well, at least for the older generation that was…

"Ah, but would you simply not accept this bouquet of posies, dear Robin? 'Tis but a gift-"

"Need I remind you that I am a married woman, and if my husband were to find out about you trying to give me these flowers, he _will not hesitate_ to make your life hell around camp, Inigo?" the tactician was quick to outright state, giving the mercenary beside her a stern glare before turning back to the parchment before her. "Why not just give those flowers to your mother?..."

Aware that Inigo was still standing next to her about a minute later, Robin sighed and put down her pen. He was insistent on her taking the flowers. "Look, I can't accept them. I'm busy, and I barely have the time to deal with things such as gifts, Inigo… The safety of not just Ylisse, but an entire continent is on my shoulders, and I can't afford to falter now because of something so trivial as flowers… And as I said before, Frederick is my other reason why I cannot accept it." She then got up, and pushed the teenager out of her tent, intending to get the privacy which she was desiring.

"Aha, rejected by the tactician of great mystery!"

"Maybe you should apologise later. Ma always said that playing the violin is a good way of apologisin'."

Inigo stared at his two companions in front of him, before sighing. They were starting to get annoyed with the heavy atmosphere in camp, and being fully aware that Robin was one of the people in charge, they were trying to cheer her up in order for the entire camp to eventually perk up.

"Let me deal with 'er. I'm sure I can get Robin to smile, 'kay?"

A few minutes later, Brady was shoved back outside with more force than Inigo had been. Robin was clearly not impressed by getting repeatedly interrupted from strategising.

"It is my turn now! My sword hand twitches for-!"

"Just get Robin to cheer up, Owain." Inigo muttered, cutting off Owain from almost reciting a speech about his 'sword hand'.

Things seemed to be going well to Inigo and Brady, as Owain was in Robin's tent for longer than the two of them combined. They could hear talking, and so they moved closer to the tent's flaps in order to listen in. That was a terrible mistake then, as a very large blast of electricity was blasted out of the tent, Owain being knocked out in the middle of it too. The two outside were knocked down by it too, and they were quick to notice a shadow tower over them. "Look, am I going to have to get Miriel assist me in casting some magic to only allow me and Frederick inside here?! If I don't want to be disturbed.. Don't disturb me!" Robin yelled in frustration, before glancing at Owain lying unconscious and singed on the ground. "And get 'Mr. Royal Thesaurus' there to Lissa…"

"Well… That was unsuccessful… Maybe we should try Owain's uncle next."

From inside the tent beside them, the tactician's voice rung out yet again. "And don't disturb Chrom either! He's stressed out enough as it is!"

* * *

Frederick sighed as he spoke to Robin that night, her head buried into pillows and her coat around her like a blanket. "And Owain getting injured?"

The tactician shrugged, before she huddled up even more under her coat. "He disturbed me straight after Inigo and Brady despite telling them to leave me alone. At least Lucina, Morgan and… Gods, I can't remember her name... Chrom and Sumia's other daughter didn't disturb me..." She then realised that it was quite a hopeless effort to use her coat as a blanket, so she finally sat up and pulled the blankets beside her like a cocoon. Then she suddenly laughed.

That worried Frederick, thinking that she had finally turned insane, but the small smile afterwards was enough to reassure him that this was not the case. "Nostalgia. Just… minus the snow. Being wrapped up in blankets like this reminds me of that day… And your awkward proposal in the face of almost certain death."

The smile was also a way for Frederick to know that though she may not have been in the best of moods over the past few weeks, she was still the Robin that he knew and loved, fully aware of how selfish he felt whenever she did smile. It was one of the few pleasures which the two still had, being stuck in a foreign continent without much else to do besides fight and train. Making each other feel selfish… It made them almost seem like children in a way.

Still wrapped up tightly in the blankets, Robin felt her husband then sit down beside her, and hold her as close as he possibly could to his body. "Are you still eating properly, Robin?" The sudden question as he started to run one of his hands through her hair was enough to induce a sigh, followed by a nod.

Since the incident a month ago, Robin had been forced to eat three proper meals a day rather than just restricting herself to the bare minimum rations for the entire camp's sake. Unfortunately, that had meant eating anything which was put before her, like it or not. Including… The thought of _that_ food sent shivers down her spine. "I suppose so-"

"You either have been or haven't been, my love. No 'suppose'."

With a small laugh, she then nodded. "I have been… If things such as Sully's apparent 'stews' and 'casseroles' alongside normal food counts as eating properly." After that, Robin then pulled Frederick under the blankets too, and kissed him gently as her hand slowly trailed his jawline. "How else do you expect me to have so much energy which I am actually able to spend on strategizing and training as of late?"

Frederick then gave her an approving nod, before noticing that even though she did seem energetic, she also seemed… tired at the exact same time. Mentally tired, he supposed. She had been dedicating herself to strategy more than she ever had done, and she was working herself to the bone. He felt as though he needed to ease her into a more relaxed state, due to the time growing ever-later. "Come here… You need to wind down now, and get some sleep..."

A sudden hug then occurred, and Frederick lay down as he held onto Robin. "It is my responsibility to look after my wife after all, and make sure that she does not deprive herself of sleep instead of food now..."

"You're talking as though I'm not here, Frederick!"

"Ah, my apologies… I was speaking to myself. Now, I shall not go to sleep until I am assured that you are safely dreaming..."

"And if I were not to sleep?"

" _Sleep, Robin."_

* * *

 **Hmm... I have a feeling that next chapter will most definitely be better than this one... Hopefully, the wait between chapters shouldn't be so long either, because I hope that I can actually find the right wording next chapter too.**

 **Well... Yeah. That's it for this chapter, expect another update (hopefully, as I said) soon!**


	13. Dealing with the fear

**Ah... I almost forgot about this until I got a review the other day... So I've been prompted back into writing for this again! Though I may have to touch up a few of the earlier chapters of this before I get any further!**

* * *

It was beyond strange… The one night in which Robin had failed to wake up sobbing through her nightmares, he was the one who had to go through that experience. Normally, he would not be fazed… But for once, he had been caught off guard simply because of how real the dream had felt. He had to keep reassuring himself every few minutes by taking hold of Robin's wrist just to make sure that there was still a pulse there.

But was his worry truly justified? He did not know. From what he was aware, in her nightmares, she was uncontrollably killing their comrades just to take their son… His was simply them both being killed trying to get away from her father… Either way, a nightmare was still a nightmare… But at least it was not her, but him who had suffered from it.

Slowly, he went and pulled her closer to him, and Robin ended up unconsciously huddling up to him. The warmth of her body was just as much of a reassurance as knowing that she had a heartbeat, and it was enough to make him smile. It was so nice to be with her like this at night. No worries about responsibilities as knight and tactician, deadlines, fighting, or even the war were present, just the comfort of the silence and the opportunity to just… relax.

Relaxing. That was an experience which he still was not fully accustomed to. Yes, Lissa had tried to help him relax on many occasions… Even Robin had done the same at times… But he still was not used to it. Being with Robin most of the time led to him feeling as though the time which they spent together was just due to their attraction to one another, and also their duty to protect and look after each other through thick and thin as husband and wife. And Lissa… He had practically grew up with the princess. It didn't feel like relaxing, again, it felt like a responsibility.

It had been a few minutes since he had last checked her pulse, so he took it as a sign that he was starting to calm himself down. She was alive, and that wasn't going to change in the immediate future. End of.

The opportunity for him to sleep was there before him. He was starting to feel tired, and in order to get the camp ready for their next movement, he had to wake up earlier than he typically would. But… Robin. Just… Robin. She was sleeping peacefully, and she looked so… delicate. Her cheeks were flushed pink despite the fact that she were asleep, and in comparison to her pale complexion, it was beautiful… Her long wavy hair was framing her face and shoulders too…

"No. I cannot afford to distract myself when I require sleep…" And even so, his body betrayed his words. He ran one of his hands through her hair whilst his other traced shapes on her back. "Yet..."

A small whisper then stopped him from continuing, alongside a hand positioning itself on his cheek. "You're distracted by my _alluring_ charms. Just admit it..." Robin had been awakened by his musings and actions, and had decided to straight off tease him for doing that.

After a few moments of incoherent spluttering, Frederick was able to come up with a response. "Alluring?… I would much rather use the word 'devious'. Anyway, why did you wake up?"

"Hmm, well… Hearing you make little sounds of satisfaction which I have only ever heard you make when cutting down enemies, or when we spend _time together,_ if you catch my gist, whilst I felt you mess with my hair… It's no surprise that I woke up, Freddy Bear..." The woman finally opened her eyes then, before leaning forward and kissing her husband's nose.

"Don't call me that..."

"Gosh, it's all in jest, Frederick… Now come on… If you're awake now, you won't wake up on time in the morning..."

* * *

"… And you're sure that you can help me over this… fear?..." The tactician was awkwardly messing with her hair as she looked at the man in front of her out of worry. It had been the fifth time that she had asked the question in a matter of minutes, due to how much her husband's wary nature had rubbed off on her. And it did not help alongside that in any way, shape, or form that her fear already seemed to be at the same level as Lon'qu's phobia over women.

A lack of response filled her with nerves, and it took a lot for her to break through it and speak again. "Henry. Look, can you help me or not?… I can't take this any more! I can't even help my family when we're fighting because of this fear, and at war, it isn't good at all! And you're the only person who I am aware of having the sufficient amount of knowledge of blood to help me! Tharja would just act strange and not help me much, and Miriel would just go into some long, winding explanation on how my fear is 'invalid' and whatnot! _**Please!"**_

Her begging was enough to make the dark mage chuckle a slight bit, before nodding. "Yes… I can help you… hehe… Though you may have to clear your schedule for the day!"

"But… I have an important strategy meeting with Chrom later, and I have to help Morgan with his strategic-"

"You _do_ want to get rid of this fear, right?… Nyahaha! You'll just have to delay your plans! Now then… Do you want to use your blood, or do you want somebody else's? Mine? Your husband's? Your son's?! _A mix of everyone's?!"_

* * *

Morgan was sat impatiently on a crate, flicking through one of Robin's strategy books which Frederick had allowed him to borrow for the time being. It had been about an hour since his mother was meant to have met with him, and in that time, he had gone through about a third of the book. At present, he was reading a chapter about ideal strategies for when fighting against armies with high levels of mounted and armoured units – quite relevant to the Shepherds' situation at present against Walhart's army.

Yes, two thirds of the army had been eradicated… But the strongest third still remained, and that thought made him feel nothing but anxious.

 _And just what had happened to his mother?_

Slowly, he slumped forward and dropped the book on the ground as he clenched his fists. "Mother… We've been worried about you enough… Please don't start some sort of disappearing act now..."

He looked down at the book which was slowly sinking deeper into a puddle of water that was there, before he noticed someone's reflection in the water. "No… I don't know where mother is, father… If that's what you want to ask me anyway..."

Moments later, there was a hand placed upon the boy's shoulder. "No. I'm not here because of that. I have been informed that you have been sat out here for a while now, acting rather… glum. Are you okay?" Following that was him getting pulled up onto his feet, before he received a hug. A… hug. That was weird. Frederick had never _hugged_ him before. Yes, he had received the occasional smile, and a pat on the back every so often, typically because he knew that he wasn't truly _his_ son, but rather one from one of many potential timelines. Perhaps Frederick was starting to fully… embrace that they were still related by blood.

"Oh… Yeah! I am now, anyway! I was waiting for mother, but she didn't show up, so… Yeah. I might've ruined one of her books though..."

"Hmm… This must be for the same reason which she failed to attend an important meeting before-"

"She might've been grabbed by someone in the Valmese army! They might have hurt her, or even killed-!" Morgan suddenly stopped talking after he interrupted Frederick upon noticing that he had suddenly closed his eyes and clenched his fists. "Father… Oh gods, I'm so sorry! I- I forgot that-!"

"Don't… Don't worry about it. Let's… just go and find her..."

* * *

"A- Ah gods… I- I- _**Get it off me!"**_ Robin screamed at the sight of the blood on her arm. Henry had just made a 'small' cut on her arm; and she couldn't take her eyes off it. It most definitely wasn't helping at all that her chest was starting to feel tight, and her eyes were starting to water.

Suddenly, her wrist was grabbed hold of by Henry's bony hand, and held in place despite all of her tugging and pulling to get her hand free. "Oh, don't worry! It's not like you will bleed to death! The incision wasn't deep enough to damage your main arteries to the point of no return! Hmm, did I actually get a main artery, thinking on it?… It would be a caw-tastrophe if I did!" Another scream followed what he said, and it led to Robin being forced to sit down by the dark mage. "I'm only kidding! Nyahaha! Just stay here for a minute!"

"D- Don't leave me here j- just bleeding to death! Henry! I- I don't want t- to die on my own-!"

"I'm getting your husband, silly! You're going to be the caw-se of _my_ death if you keep up with this screaming!"

Robin closed her eyes then, and she began to feel tears forming as she tried to hold back another shout once Henry had left. She was beginning to feel the metallic taste that hung in the air when she was so close to death those years ago in her mouth, and even the memory was making her feel even worse.

 _Why_ did she insist on doing this _now_ of all times?… _Why_ did she have to let this fear even get to the point that it had done?

Just… _Why?…_

Allowing the tactician to dwell on her thoughts was a good thing for her though. Without even realising it, she had drifted off to sleep on the seat which she was on by the time that Henry had actually managed to find Frederick, who was being accompanied by Morgan still. None of the three were actually expecting her to be asleep, but it was nice to see her so peaceful…

At least until Morgan noticed her wrist. "Uh, Henry?…" The teenager _knew_ that there had to be a reason behind his mother's wrist having (what was now) dried blood covering it. "Why was mother with you anyway?… I… I don't like the fact that there is… Um..."

"Oh! You're talking about the blood! She wanted to get rid of her fear so that she doesn't become a burden to anyone, especially to you two! And she came to me to help get rid of it! Nyahaha! Anyway… I wonder if she's alive..." Hearing what Henry said last was _not_ assurance whatsoever for Morgan, who had taken to clinging to his father's arm tightly through fear; and it added to the uneasiness which Frederick was beginning to feel with this situation. Seeing the dark mage just poke at her face for a moment made everything feel a million times worse, but it was a huge relief seeing Robin unconsciously bat his hand away.

Out of sheer relief, Morgan went and dove at his sleeping parent in order to hug her. What he wasn't aware of though was that the action was a bit _too_ sudden, and had surprised Robin into waking up. She slowly went and smiled – an action which also sent relief flooding through Frederick's body due to how it still meant so much significance to them both now – before carefully wrapping her arm around Morgan as he began to sob quietly.

"Don't cry… Morgan… You can't blame me for wanting to get rid of this fear…" she muttered, aware of exactly why he was so upset without even being awake previously. "I'm sorry for cancelling our plans so suddenly..."

Whilst she was whispering quietly to Morgan, Henry had decided to approach Frederick and had decided to speak to him out of the blue. It was a surprise at first, especially considering the serious tone of the white-haired man as he spoke. "Noticed something? She isn't worrying! Well, at least for now… I know that it doesn't take this quick to get rid of a fear, but at least she isn't stressing out!"

"Ack-! Do not speak so suddenly again!" After taking a moment to collect himself, he began to comment on what Henry had actually said. "She is only temporarily 'recovered' from her phobia? Is there not anything more… Permanent?"

"That'll take time! Though I'd be kinda caw-tious with her for now though! She _might_ feel a _bit_ light-headed at the blood loss for a while! Nyahaha, that would be fun to watch though, seeing her stumble about!"

The knight could only roll his eyes alongside making a slight utterance under his breath, before he went over to his wife and took hold of her hand once she had let go of Morgan and had noticed her yawning. "Come on… You should probably rest in _our_ tent if you happen to be feeling tired, not _here_."

* * *

One month it had been since Robin had first gone to Henry for help with her fear, and she was actually beginning to make progress which happened to be a bit more persistent than it initially had been. For the first time in a year or two, she had actually decided to pick up a sword and try to train with it. And who better to train with than her closest friend in the Shepherds?

"Gods! You wouldn't have thought that you've only used tomes for a while now! Do you ever forget anything that you learn, Robin?!"

"Hah, how about the first eighteen years of my life?" Robin snickered as she brought her sword up to block the incoming blow from Chrom's sword. "But in all honesty, I actually quite… _like_ using a sword… It's just a shame that my fear doesn't let me cope with it in actual battles!"

Chrom muttered to himself for a moment in frustration, before trying to catch his tactician off-guard with another attack. "Speaking of actual battles..." She was too cunning, and had managed to parry his attack swiftly and efficiently. "It's not long now until we face off against Walhart, isn't it?"

Robin then rose her hand in a moment of brief surrender to catch her breath, and stabbed her sword into the ground. "About two weeks, to be exact..." After she took a second to hold onto her knees as she inhaled deeply, she then gave Chrom a thumbs up. "Not had a workout like that in ages… Probably because I'm the only person who can worm their way out of Frederick's training… But wow… I've not had to work that hard for a while..."

The Ylissean was quick to grin, and placed his hand on her shoulder as he too stabbed his sword into the ground. "I'm not surprised! But gods, you really were good there… I don't think I've trained so hard in a while either!"

"All that I did was deflect your attacks… But damn, you moved fast… Though maybe we should train like this again at some point, I wouldn't mind making a change to just using a practice dummy..." Once she had finished speaking, she stood up properly again and then glanced around. "Morgan, I can see you hidden behind that crate." A finger was then pointed to the object at the side of both herself and Chrom, before another was directed towards a nearby tree. "Cynthia, Lucina, I can see you two also. Were the three of you trying to watch us train together?"

The three from the future generation sighed as they came out of their hiding places, and that was when Chrom hit his face with a sigh. "Brady, Owain and Inigo too. They're behind you, Robin… Is there anyone else who was watching?!"

Quite a lot of people had actually been watching the two have their practise battle, and it came as quite surprising for the two friends. From what it had sounded like, the fact that they were laughing and chatting happily whilst they fought changed the atmosphere in the camp quite a bit for the positive – a much needed lift for everyone's spirits.

Well, at least until they heard a warning from the people on lookout… The Valmese rebels-turned-opponents were moving closer from the south, and it was unknown as to whether they were still hostile or not… They had to start moving up north quickly, just to be on the safe side…

* * *

"Why is it… That every time I have gained any sort of injury whilst fighting over the past week or so… You have pushed all of the healers away and tend to me yourself?" Frederick sighed, confused over Robin's sudden actions as of late. He failed to get any sort of response that time, because his wife was occupied with trying to clean up his most recent injury which was on his hand, obtained through Excellus' tome during the final battle which they were set to fight within Valm. The burn looked _horrible_ , with it bleeding and looking extremely tender around the centre of it. "Robin, may you answer me?"

Her small hazel eyes were quick to look up into his, and he was quick to notice that she was trying to hold back tears. "I'm sorry… What was that?" As she spoke though, he placed his free hand on her cheek and used his thumb to wipe away the forming tears.

He failed to come out with the right words for a moment, and when he did, it set her off into floods of tears. "Why, Robin?… I can't stand to see you upset like this..."

"I- I was told… That I- I could try to tend to small injuries… T- To help me get over my fear… I- It is only a small amount of b- blood, so..."

"Robin… Don't. Don't do this, okay? Let me finish looking after this burn..."

"B- But-!"

She was silenced quickly with a finger on her lips, and Frederick made her sit down on the floor seeming as they were both outside as the time, before he continued from where she had left off. Robin kept her eyes on his injury the whole time, before she began to dig her nails into her legs. She had felt like a burden enough when she didn't do anything about her phobia… But now that she was doing something about it… Her worry felt nothing but worse. No matter what she did, she felt as though she was just worrying everyone.

As the tactician burst into tears, she felt both of his hands rest upon her cheeks and make her look up at him. "Robin… Don't cry, okay? I am here for if you need a shoulder to cry on, I _am_ your husband after all..."

Seeing the worry on his face was enough to set her off crying even more. "A- Am I a burden to you?… I feel as though I am..."

"What?! No. Do _not_ think that, understand?" He pulled her into a hug, before resting her head on his shoulder. "We do not have to fight again whilst in Valm, and it does seem to be a nice day at the moment… It is warm and sunny too… Just like your smile, you know..."

"What are you getting at?..."

"Let's stay here for a while… You could do with some time to unwind… Get your worries off your shoulder whilst we do not have anything else to put our minds on..."

After wiping away most of her tears, she then nodded. "Okay then… I'll stay out here with you…" And then she was able to fight aside her negative thoughts as she put on a smirk. "Just as long as we can spend a little _private time_ together once we get back to Ylisse… Well, after we've seen how little Morgan has done whilst we've been away obviously."

"As you wish..."

* * *

 **I hope that this was okay for the first chapter in a few months... I may still need a bit of time to get back into the swing of things though!**


	14. Love on the last day in Valm

Robin began to laugh like a child as she span around in the Valmese port town, making the most of the sun in the sky and the cool sea breeze. "We don't have to fight for now, so everything feels so… Ah, relaxing! Don't you agree, Frederick?" She was quick to grab her husband's hands then, before falling into his chest laughing. "I am so glad that Chrom gave us a few hours to spend in whichever way we want before we return to the ships to go home..."

"Yes… I do agree… It's nice to see you smiling again." He slowly stroked her cheek then, before moving in for a small kiss – an action quickly intercepted by the woman with her finger. She had an idea, and it involved teasing her husband a slight bit...

"No kisses just yet… We should make the most of our free time."

"And is a small kiss not making the most of the time?"

Looking away with a smirk, Robin completely ignored his question before gazing around. "Say… Are you looking forward to seeing the result of our hard work in a few days, Frederick?… I sure am..." She then sighed longingly, and briskly turned back around to the knight.

"Peace in our own continent, yes, I am-" A finger was placed upon his lips yet again, this time with the intention of silencing. Yes, it was hard work to maintain peace… But that wasn't what she was referring to.

"Frederick. That isn't what I am talking about. By 'hard work'… I quite literally mean _hard_ work." Ah, euphemisms. She loved it when she had opportunities to use them in situations like this. Seeing Frederick's slightly furrowed brow made her sigh, and she had to lean in to his ear to whisper what she meant to him. "Sex, Frederick. I meant sex. Ever heard of a euphemism before?"

The sudden redness of her husband's face was enough to make her giggle in a rather childish way as she threw her arms around his neck then, before he ended up resting his hands upon her rear. "You're in trouble once we get complete privacy, Robin… Stop trying to confuse me by speaking like that..." He grunted a slight bit then, before resting his lips against her neck. "And just so you know, yes, I am looking forward to seeing Morgan..." And following that came an action which made Robin produce a loud gasp. Yes, he had kissed her neck repeatedly in those few seconds, but squeezing her bottom felt almost risky to her, especially out in the open.

With a red, flustered face, alongside a hushed yet shrill voice, Robin was quick to chastise her husband. "Gods damn it, not here… We could get done for public indecency if you keep that up!" He was pushed away then, and her hair fell to in front of her face as she tried to hide her embarrassment.

Once Robin brought herself around to sorting her hair out, her self-conscious gaze was then met with a wide smirk. "It looks as though the scales have been tipped, do you not think so? You try to tease me, and I shall tease you back, my dear Robin." Afterwards, he slowly took hold of her hand with his bandaged one, and ruffled her hair with the other one as she pouted. "Do not worry, I will stop it now… Time is wasting as we dawdle around here. We should probably do something productive with our time..."

He was right… Something productive should be done… But… what could there possibly be to do here? Yes, there were one or two stalls, but they didn't seem open to customers at present, for the keepers had left about various signs that they had gone to join the Valmese army… And they presumably never returned from that duty. The ones which were open had no use to the couple, with them selling things such as cooking utensils and furniture.

Frederick had a different dilemma to Robin, however. He didn't exactly care at that moment in time on as to what could be seen as productive, but was instead thinking of a way to keep his wife happy for the time being. They had a few days; weeks possibly before Grima was to return – they had been informed that not too long after stopping Walhart – and he knew what the future had in store for them… Lucina had told him herself.

" _I_ … _Don't really like talking about this… But okay then… My father is first to fall. That's actually the main reason why Grima was able to get so much power, because we needed him to carry out the Awakening ceremony… Then there's the part that you won't like… Robin is next to fall… Then Cordelia, Flavia, Vaike, and many others too… As a matter of fact… After that first day, only six remained… My mother, aunt Lissa,_ _Tharja,_ _Stahl_ _, Sully… And you."_

Just the thought of his beloved dying… He couldn't bear it. And if the future generation's mission to prevent Grima from retaining power was to fail… He just wanted to make sure that his wife had a good last few-

 _No._ He was not going to allow himself to think like that.

Robin will not die. Robin will not die. _Robin will not die. He_ would make sure of it.

Whilst the tactician was mid-thought, he then grabbed hold of her wrist and began to pull her somewhere. It had caught her by surprise, to say the least. "Frederick?! What are you doing?!" She attempted to tug her arm free, but he didn't allow her to. "Hey, earth to Frederick, what are you doing?!"

"We are going to spend some time alone together. Many people have checked into a local inn to spend time with their family or friends until we must reconvene, I see no reason as to why we cannot do the same. Besides… If I cannot have the luxury of touching you in public, surely I must be able to in privacy." Then he gave her a small but sweet smile, enough to bring a small blush to her face as she nodded.

/

What Robin had thought would be gentle kisses and tender hugs was instead much more…. Aggressive, to say the least. They had managed to gain possession of a room for four hours with the little money which they had between them, and by the gods, they were making the most of it.

"I thought that we had promised- Ahh-!" Robin was cut off by a gasp of surprise as her lover had ended up almost biting her ear as he showered her with kisses. "P- Promised that we would wait until we get back to Ylisse!"

"That is too far away. And besides… May I not treat my wife, be it in the form of a gift or a sexual favour? It has seemed rather surprising to me that we have been able to _almost_ completely abstain since we left our own continent many months ago, considering the frequency in which we made love to each other before you bore our child, and between the time that we left Ylisse and came here…" Once he had finished speaking, Frederick's lips had relocated to his wife's mouth, and was giving her a few small kisses as one of his hands held onto her waist and the other slowly stroked the side of her neck.

Robin studied his face for a few moments, before resting her hands upon his chest. Frederick's eyes looked a slight bit glazed over, and he seemed to be wanting to either lick or bite his lips. She had seen that face on him before, and that was a few days after their wedding… They had spend much of that night expressing their love, and it had been nothing but the most passionate few hours of her life. "Hmm… Okay then, I will allow that excuse… But next time, be honest, okay?"

She had almost instantly seen right through him… Gods, she was a tricky customer when it came to concealing his true thoughts. "Ah, so you are aware that my desire is naught but lustful? Perhaps that means that I should not hold back then..."

All that the woman could do was lean in close to his ear, and chuckle a slight bit. "Please don't… I must see what you are like at your most desirous… I have yet to see that side of you… I could tell by the way in which you were acting outside before..."

All of their emotions which had been pent up because of the war now had their chance to be released, and neither of the two had any intentions of stopping it, as indicated by the way in which they kept their faces close as they whispered sweet nothings to each other, and by how all clothes barring their underwear were discarded not too soon after that. They were saving each other the honour of removing those final layers.

Once that had occurred, Robin couldn't help but feel tempted to explore her husband's body, to see if anything had changed… One thing stood out to her more than anything though… His body was peppered with cuts, bruises and scars, a majority of which being obtained from protecting both her and their future son… She felt nothing but guilt for that. The second that Frederick had noticed the pain on her face, he took hold of her hands and directed her eyes back up towards his face. "Don't focus upon those… Besides… I'm not the only one with memories of war etched all over their body..." One of her hands were then released, and his hand moved to just above her left breast, where there was a white patch of skin which had been hit by electricity. "You almost died getting hit by that strike… It hit you so close to your heart… I almost cried, seeing you paralysed for a short while afterwards..." Moments later, he kissed the scar. "But I see it as a symbol of how strong you are..."

"Strong?..."

"Yes. You are the strongest woman that I know, and I have no qualms about saying that outright." That made Robin give off a small, child-like giggle, before she pulled his face back up to hers and gave him a gentle kiss. Her lips were so soft and welcoming, it made Frederick want to leave them against his own for as long as they were doing this… But she had other ideas.

The grunt which he made when they had separated made the tactician laugh, before she moved her lips over to his ear. "Now… You can have my lips again… But only if you promise me one thing..." His desperation was very apparent when he had ended up pushing her against a wall in the room. "You have to make this one of the most memorable moments of my life. Tear my clothes off, kiss me until I can kiss no more, make your name be the only thing that I can bring myself around to saying… Show me that even after almost three years of marriage we still love each other as much as our first passionate night of love making..." Robin seemed almost breathless after saying that, and Frederick could only smirk. He was going to make her even more breathless than she was now, and there was no stopping him.

"Ah, is that so?… Well, I shall give you even more than that…" He reclaimed her lips then, and the quiet moan which she made was close to sending him crazy. Slowly, his hands moved to behind her back, and slowly removed the item of clothing which was hiding her chest from him. He had to hold her arms over her head in order to keep her from following her instincts to conceal herself again. "I feel so privileged, being the only man who may see you at your finest..."

Robin laughed awkwardly then, her mind taking a brief flashback to those few awkward moments with Chrom all those years ago… But she was quick to have her mind brought back to reality by feeling her hair being let loose from their ties. She went to go and whisper something to him, but he used what she had done previously to him against her, and covered her lips. "Be quiet… You're going to need to save your voice for later..."

Following that, Robin rested her head upon Frederick's shoulder as she felt his hands slowly squeeze her chest, inducing a small mumble of satisfaction from the woman. He couldn't help but laugh at that reaction, and decided to make his grasp of her much firmer, just to see what her reaction would be. Well, with his hand which wasn't bandaged that was. As he had hoped, she had made a much louder sound that time, and it made him feel so much more desperate… He just wanted to tear off that one last piece of clothing which she had on and get her permission to allow his body to become one with hers…

She could see right through him, despite him trying his best not to allow her to know his desires. "We've not got long left before we have to regroup… I know that you want to… Show your selfishness a bit more, Frederick…" She was almost pressing her body against his as she moved her hands to his waist and began to gently trail her fingers across his skin. "You claim to only see making me smile as selfish… I know you well enough to know what you want right now…"

Frederick felt his body heat up then, and his hands slowly removed themselves from her chest and moved further down her body. "Well, if you were trying to tempt me… It has worked, Robin..."

/

Morgan sat on a crate by the ship which everyone was meant to be leaving on, peering around anxiously. Everyone was meant to have met up around twenty minutes ago, but his parents hadn't. Not that he was worried or anything, he knew that they would be okay… But they were almost never late. No, he had not seen them late even once from what he could remember in the months which he had known them.

"Come on… We might have to leave without them if they don't show up soon, Morgan… I heard that be mentioned before. You don't want to get left behind, do you?..." Lucina had approached the young tactician from behind, before placing a hand on his shoulder. "I for one wouldn't want you to be left behind. You might not be our Morgan, but you're definitely one of us."

The teenager was quick to stand up, before slamming his fist down on the crate. "And I for one wouldn't want my mother and father to be left behind in Valm! You wouldn't like it if Chrom and Sumia were left behind here, would you?!" His sudden snap made the future princess wince, it being a reminder of what the Morgan from her time was like. "I don't want to lose them again… I've lost my memories of them once before… _Actually_ losing my parents would ruin me! Please, Luci… Make everyone wait, even if it's for another few minutes!"

She bit her lip as she watched him sink down to his knees, but it was a relief to hear footsteps moving quickly towards them. Robin and Frederick had managed to get to the port… But only just.

"A- Are we late?!" Robin panted, looking red and out of breath. Frederick didn't look much better either. "Gods damn it, w- we are!"

"You've had Morgan really worried! What kept you?!" Morgan remained motionless as he suddenly felt Lucina's hand upon his shoulder as she spoke. "We almost had to leave without you, and Morgan was scared that he would lose you again!"

"L- Luci, calm down..."

"Morgan, I can't stand seeing you so worried though… You at least deserve an answer on as to why they were late..."

The young tactician slowly stood back up, using the crate there as support. "No, they don't have to answer… Don't worry, Luci." He then laughed, before turning to his parents. "Judging by your appearances, I don't need or want to ask!" Before he could gain any sort of response from his slightly startled parents, he took hold of Lucina's hand before quickly running over to the boat with her.

Frederick sighed as he shook his head, and then began to pull Robin in a similar direction to their son. "Looks as though we went… a _bit_ over the top..." He muttered, then using his hand to comb out a bit of his wife's hair. "Next time that we decide to have sex… Let's _actually_ leave it until we are in Ylisse..."

Robin blushed a slight bit as she nodded, and then flattened the collar of his shirt a slight bit. "Gods… You can say that again… If only we had three more hours to spend here, to make the most of having that room for those few hours..." But then she caught sight of Morgan stood on the boat's deck, looking rather relieved yet flustered as he spoke to Lucina. "We're probably going to have to give that advice to those two in a few years, aren't we? 'Luci this, Luci that'… Getting her not to worry about him… Her over-protectiveness of him... Sounds a lot like you and me at times! Before we know it, we're going to be grand-!"

" _Don't_ go there, Robin. I don't even want to dare think about being a grandfather so soon! Our _actual_ son is only months old, thank the gods..."


	15. A family bond

**I am really all over the place trying to write at the moment. So many ideas for things I haven't wrote and put on here yet... But I must put what I've already posted first!**

* * *

" _Grandfather Frederick~"_ Robin laughed, her voice taunting her husband as his head remained buried in his hands. She had been almost constantly teasing him about his panic over the idea of him ever becoming a grandfather ever since the idea had been brought up, even though that was a few days ago, and the group was slowly approaching a Feroxi port. "Oh, come on, Frederick… Lighten up, okay? Our actual son is only a few months old, and the Morgan with us is almost sixteen. It's going to be a long time before we even become grandparents..."

' _Yes, but you don't know about what the future has in store, do you?'_ Was what he wanted to retaliate with, but instead, he could only sigh. If he dared tell her what Lucina had told him… It would make things much worse than they previously had been.

"Anyway… Chances are, we're more likely to end up with another child before Morgan even considers having one of his own – that is if he even considers it." Her voice had suddenly became bland and emotionless as she spoke then, before she gave Frederick a hug. "Not that I'm sure we'd be able to cope with another child, we've spent enough time away from our son as it is already… And if things continue to go as they are, there is no doubt that some other continent would try to pick a fight with Ylisse… Or..." She then gulped, before her arms started shaking. It was quite obvious that a thought which was capable of scaring her had some into her mind. "Or… The p- possibility that… that my father could e- end up doing something to m- mentally break me… I- Is still there..."

Hearing his wife trying to stop herself from crying at the thought of her father almost brought Frederick himself to tears. All that he could do was hold her close to him, and run his hand through her hair as a form of reassurance. It wasn't the first time that Validar had brought her to tears recently either – she would mention hearing his voice, then moments later she would come down with a migraine before sobbing until she ended up falling asleep. She had a point… He seemed to be chipping away at her mind ever since their previous visit to Plegia.

"If it ever gets too much..." Robin was shaking as she slowly pulled away from him. "As in… I start losing my mind, and start doing horrible things which are not like me at all… If I stop smiling and become nothing but a burden to everyone..." She then shakily pointed to the left side of her chest, right where her heart was. "Right here… Strike me here..."

"What?! No!" He grabbed hold of her hands as he shook his head as much as he could. "I would never, _ever_ stab you, let alone consider hurting you. Something like that isn't worth dying for-"

"Frederick… You don't understand…" Robin pulled her coat tightly around herself then, before holding her marked hand out. "Over the past two years… Whilst in Ylisse, and in Valm… I've been researching this mark… I thought at first it was just a Plegian bloodline, and that's as far as you know also… But the more I've looked, the less I've thought _just_ that…" Following a deep breath, her eyes closed. "It's not just _any_ Plegian bloodline. We may be followers of the divine dragon… But this mark… Belongs to direct descendants of the fell dragon. _I am related to Grima_ … And from what I've heard… Those who possess the brand… They have to potential to be a vessel. Both me and Morgan have the brand… And Validar… He's the leader of the Grimleal. For all I know, he could be trying to break me so that I _become_ Grima!" By the time that she had finished speaking, she was close to hyperventilating, and tears were continuing to stream down her face. "I can't risk that… So please, promise me that you will kill me if that happens!"

All that Frederick could do was pull her close to his body, before standing up as he mouthed 'no' out of her line of sight once he had released his grasp of her. Never would he kill her, whether she was herself or not. He would _never_ be able to bring himself around into doing something as despicable as that. On top of that, he would hate having to explain to Morgan as he grew up that he didn't have a mother because she asked for him to kill her… That would probably kill him too.

"Come on, Robin. Perhaps you could do with a short break outside..."

As he began to walk out, he then glanced at the marking on her hand. _Grima…_ And then Lucina's words began to ring through his head. _'_ _My father is first to fall. That's actually the main reason why Grima was able to get so much power, because we needed him to carry out the Awakening ceremony… Then there's the part that you won't like… Robin is next to fall…_ _'_

Could that have meant that Robin's fears of becoming a vessel for Grima… Were right?

Did she, in Lucina's future… Become Grima?

And then the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together in his head...

* * *

It was the first day back at the Ylissean castle, and Robin was on her knees sobbing as she held her son in her arms. "Morgan… Oh gods, I am so sorry for being gone for so long… Mother's here now… So is father..." As she wept, she began to run her hand through the dark tufts of hair on the boy's head as he giggled, tugging at her own hair. "You're almost a year old now… My precious baby is growing up!"

Once she had finished hugging Morgan, he was yawning as he lay his head upon her leg. After stroking his cheek, she then looked up at Frederick with a smile. "Our son has done well… Hasn't he? I feel bad for not being there for him, but the castle staff really have helped him out… At least we haven't missed any major milestones in his life… I mean, I've heard that he can barely just stand up, and has just come out with typical baby gibberish alongside a few other sounds up until this point..." After that, she smiled at Morgan as he sat on the floor, looking around curiously, before pointing at Frederick to try and get Morgan to look at him.

It took more than a few minutes to get him to finally look at his father, and even then, he looked on with nothing but confusion. "Look, Morgan… Father!" Following that, she sighed at the hopeless look on her husband's face, and pulled him down to his knees also. "It's your _mother_ and _father_!"

"F… Fa?… Fa… er?..."

Hearing the child's muttering brought surprise to the faces of both parents. "R- Robin, did he…"

"I think that he did… He tried to say 'father'..." Robin could only smile as she noticed Frederick's face fill up with a pride which she hadn't seen ever since she had first told him that she was carrying his child just over a year and a half ago. "Perhaps the castle staff spoke about us to him… They know you better, so they probably spoke of you more… It might have got him more familiar with the word 'father' than 'mother'…"

Frederick then put on a confident face, and held his son in a similar fashion as his wife was before. "You're so smart, Morgan… Just like your mother…" With that, Robin felt her face grow red due to the smile which he had ended up giving her. "You smile just like her too. That's wonderful..."

They remained there for a few more minutes, until Frederick felt Robin rest her head upon his arm. She had fell asleep. All of the fighting and movement was starting to catch up with her… Carefully, after sitting Morgan down in his lap, Frederick sighed as he pushed some of Robin's hair out of her face as he moved her head off his arm.

"Need a bit of help there?..." The silent moment was cut off by the older Morgan appearing in the doorway, and looking at the three with a sullen look in his eyes. Frederick could only pin that upon the presence of his younger self in his arms. "I… Could help you take mother to lie down in bed, if you wanted..."

He was appreciative of the offer for assistance, but he was rather reluctant to allow Morgan to help move Robin, as the teenager was not as capable with carrying weight as his fellow future comrades were. "Perhaps… You could hold onto this little one for a moment."

"N- No! What if me holding onto him ended up causing some sort of space-time distortion?! A- And make the timeline collapse in on itself and then everything ends here and now?! I- I'm not taking that risk!"

"Morgan… Lucina has come into contact with her child-self, and I am very sure that no such disaster happened then. Just hold onto him for a moment whilst I get your mother up onto my back."

"I said that I could help move mother though! Father, you can't keep assuming that I am weak, okay?! Yes, Owain, Inigo, Lucina, Cynthia and all of the others are stronger than me, but I'm strong too!"

Perhaps… Morgan's awkwardness wasn't just because of his younger self… In a way, that hurt Frederick. But he also knew that Morgan was wrong. He _wasn't_ strong. He had inherited so much from his mother, and it was evident. Stubbornness and proficiency in magic being the two most prominent things. It had become more obvious over the past few days than ever, with all of the members of the Shepherds having to move all of their belongings back to Ylisse.

With a quiet growl, Frederick pulled Robin's arms over his shoulders and pulled her up onto his back, before using his free arm to pick up the child present. Before he could say anything after that though, the older Morgan had disappeared from the doorway.

"Gods, that boy..."

* * *

So soon, and the Shepherds were likely to return to Plegia if a few of their concerns were correct. Aware that the threat of Grima was looming, and that they were the only ones who could do anything to stop that becoming definite, the Shepherds were once again having to prepare to fight.

Robin was sat silently in the barracks, having already sorted her belongings out many hours earlier. Everyone else was still preparing, barring Frederick, who wasn't even in Ylisse at present due to one of her plans which were currently in action. She felt lonely without him, but she knew that no matter what, they would be back at each other's side again at some point. Because of that knowledge, she kept reciting what he had said to her just before he had left.

" _Distance shall never effect how much we love one another, for we shall always be together in our hearts and our minds…_ Ha, I never thought that Frederick could come out with something like that..." She could only smile as she thought about that, before hearing some footsteps nearby.

"I can see as to why Frederick is constantly hassling you into smiling, it really lights up a room, you know?"

"Chrom, I can't tell if that was just a complement between friends, or if that was you, the married exalt of Ylisse who happens to be a father to a child who is not even a single year old, trying to flirt with your tactician who is married to one of your best soldiers – your lieutenant – and also has a child with him!"

"Are you _really_ that desperate, Robin?" She knew that he meant desperate for some sort of affection, as she had _really_ grew used to having Frederick going on about how much he loved her over the past few years... But she wondered what her best friend's reaction would be if she took his words out of context.

"Gods, no! As if I would be desperate for _you._ " Chrom sat down as Robin leaned back, closed her eyes, and rested her hands behind her head as she then smirked. "If I were honestly that desperate, I'd track down Frederick and go to him." Following that, she opened one of her eyes and watched as Chrom winced at what she had said. He knew _exactly_ what the tactician meant by that, with how she was twisting all of his words about.

The pair remained silent for a while, with them both focussing their thoughts upon the imminent future. It was Chrom who broke the silence. "Whereabouts should Frederick be, exactly?" It was true that the exalt was unaware of whereabouts the knight was, as Robin had been extremely vague when explaining the plan to him a few days before, just as he was leaving. He was hoping that Robin would at least have a slightly less vague clue on as to where her husband was.

Robin had to think for a moment, and it took her leaning forward and tapping her fingers upon the table between her and Chrom to come up with her thoughts. "I think somewhere in Plegia… It's the only place in which we haven't retrieved a gemstone for the Fire Emblem from, so it's the most likely place. I mean, you already had Argent, Basilio's unfortunate sacrifice managed to get Gules to us, Tiki had Azure in Valm, and Chon'sin had possession of Vert until Walhart came along..." She then paused for a moment, before realising just how dangerous having her husband _alone_ in the same country ruled by her almost psychotic father was. "S- Sable _has_ to be in Plegia, it's the only lead we have."

Chrom could sense the unease in her voice, and gulped once he noticed her start to cry. He wasn't sure as to why, but the best that he could do was provide her with some moral support. "Now, don't look so glum… We're doing everything that we can to guarantee our future, and our children's futures." Seeing that she was now casting a slightly sorry glance towards him, he felt as though he had to continue. "We promised, back when we first met, that as long as we remained friends, work together and fight together, we would make up the parts of a greater whole, right?"

Robin could only force on a smile then, and forced herself into speaking. "Yes… You're right… For ourselves and our children..." After a brief moment tearing up, Robin closed her eyes and began to chuckle quietly. "For my son… For the hopes that I can be around when he finally brings himself around to saying 'mother' alongside 'father'..."

* * *

Morgan was sat outside in the grass, looking up into the sky as his eyes welled up in tears. Ever since his little argument with Frederick… He had felt almost… lost. He felt as though he had no family again, as when he awoke in that Feroxi field… It had reminded him of how unsure the fate of his actual parents was, with it being unknown of where and when his parents were within the many possible timelines in existence.

What he wanted to do more than anything though – especially much more than sitting around moping - was to apologise for getting so frustrated with his father simply because he felt awkward around his young self.

He remained sat still for a while, ignoring any attempts by anyone to get his attention, including the calls from Robin to try and eat and have a drink at some point that day. Though he was aware hat his mother was simply just looking out for him, he couldn't help but ignore her.

As the sun beat down on his face, Morgan eventually had to pull his coat off in order to cool down for a moment. For spring in Ylisse, it was _unbearably_ hot, possibly even hotter than Plegia in comparison! It was making him feel… Ever so weary. Weary to the point that he almost ended up falling asleep on the ground.

He was very slowly brought out of his dazed state through hearing a familiar deep voice, which to some would be scary, but to him was rather soothing. "Sleeping in odd places really does run through your mother's side of the family… Perhaps it would be best if I took you to lie down in a bed..." A hand was placed upon his shoulder after that, and the warmth which radiated from it… That was familiar too. As in… he felt as though he must have felt this at least once before, possibly before he obtained his amnesia...

"Hmm?..." Morgan rubbed his eyes, before blinking for a moment to clear up his vision. It was… Frederick. Seeing him was enough to surprise him, before putting on a very faint grin. "You're back, father..." Once he had spoke, the boy was quick to throw himself at his father and laugh for a moment.

It was more than just relief that Morgan was feeling after that, as it had put all of his previous fears that Frederick was harbouring dislike towards him to the back of his head. If Frederick _did_ have any sort of negative emotions towards him, then he obviously wouldn't have started to speak to him just then. Forget that, Frederick probably would have outright stated to _everyone_ on numerous occasions if that were the case...

"Yes, I have returned... And I must say, you really do take after Robin, even if you say that you don't. Smile and everything… Now come on, sleeping is for in bed, not out in the grass on a sunny day such as this."

Morgan was quick to shake his head, and fell back into the grass once his grasp of Frederick was released. "No… I want to sleep out here…" After a short moment of silence, he spoke again. "Have you ever slept in the grass before, father?…"

"I… I would not say that I have-"

"Then you should try it… Oh! I know! You should let mother and Chrom know that you've returned, and then we can spend time together… Maybe doing something other than speaking or training together could prompt a memory of you to show up… Please?..."

The pleading look on Morgan's face… Again, it was _so_ like Robin's. And he couldn't resist Robin's begging when she had that face on…

"Ah… Only for a few minutes then, okay?"

"... Thank you, father... I love you..."


	16. Morgan dying!

**So, this chapter is... quite a bit shorter than normal. And I apologise for that. I won't go into it here, but I'll explain at the end of the chapter!**

* * *

Morgan was half asleep, and Frederick was sat beside him with a smile upon his face. It was actually… _nice_ to spend time with his son like this. _Perhaps it would be worth spending time with Morgan like this once the younger Morgan_ _began to grow old enough to walk and talk properly…_ It made it feel much better at the fact that it was a sunny day, and there was a light breeze brushing through the trees, alongside the people stood amongst the trees… Then Frederick froze.

People amongst the trees?… That wasn't right, there wasn't people before...

Morgan had also become more alert then, and had stood up just after his father had done too. "Can… You sense it too, father?… Something isn't… _right._ "

The next few moments seemed to be stuck in slow motion to them both as everything happened. A wave of arrows had suddenly flew towards them, and Frederick was unable to react. It wasn't often that he was able to not respond to an act of aggression such as that one.

Morgan, however, did react… By jumping into the path of the arrows which were going to hit his father. Out of a few dozen arrows, only one had hit Frederick, and that was in his foot. All of the others… were either jammed into a wall, were stuck in the ground, or lodged into the teenager's body. Both of them were covered in blood.

Seconds later, Morgan fell limply backwards into Frederick, barely conscious. Despite the excruciating pain that he was in… he was smiling. It was a smile reminiscent of Robin's. "A- Ahaha… Don't… Don't worry about me… F- Father..." Blood poured from the young tactician's mouth as he coughed, and that was followed by a painful groan. "At least… I- I'm with you...A- As I pass… Knowing that… I- I saved you, and… The… Y- Younger me… still has his father..."

The knight was shaken and wide-eyed. "No… Don't say that Morgan… D- Don't you dare speak like that, do you understand?!" Moments later, he gulped and looked around frantically. There were windows to the barracks open… " _R-_ _Robin!"_ He was hoping with all of his that his wife had heard him through one of the open windows… It hurt too much seeing Morgan in so much pain…

The teenager coughed up a bit more blood, before shakily taking hold of Frederick's hand. "F- Father… C- Could you… Could you tell… Mother… A- And Lucina… That… I… Love th- them?..." His breathing was getting less frequent now…

Indoors, Robin was confused after hearing Frederick's shout. Chrom had instantly dismissed her from the tactics meeting which they were in, simply because of how pained the cry had been. She knew that Frederick had gone outside with Morgan, so that was her first port of call.

Quietly, she pushed the door outside open, and was instantly hit by a wave of warmth. _It sure was a sunny day…_ But everything good had a cost, was her next thought.

The ironic smell in the air was next to hit her, and almost instantly she came over all nauseated. " _B-_ _B_ _lood._ But… Why would there be-" She froze. Frederick's hysterical yell… The smell of blood in the air… " _Frederick?!"_ She began to run after that, along the wall of the barracks so that she could try and locate her husband and son. A tree root had ended up making her trip up on the way, but that didn't stop her from jumping right back up and continuing to run.

As she turned a corner to get to the wall at the opposite side of the barracks, she froze to the spot as she saw a scene which was on par with her nightmares, in regards to how bad it was. Frederick was pale and limping as he held a bloody Morgan in his arms, and his hands were noticeably shaking. Arrows covered quite a bit of what she could see…

Forget it being on par, this was _worse_ than her nightmares.

"Oh gods, F- Frederick… don't tell me that he..."

"Morgan… H- He is only just a- alive..."

* * *

Robin stared into the wall that night, still in a state of shock over what had happened. "He… Jumped in the way..." She muttered, her eyes looking dry due to her having not blinked for a good minute or so. "He's… dying..." Her hands were wavering as she brought them up to her mouth as she began to cry. "He's fifteen, he's still a child, Frederick! Why would they target you both?!"

Frederick couldn't respond as he embraced her, feeling her tears fall against his shoulder as he stroked her hair. The knight hadn't spoke since he was ordered to explain what had happened to Morgan and himself, and it was understandable. The thing is, he had a particular thought stuck in his head all of that day… He must have been followed from Plegia. Obviously under Validar's orders. The conversation which he had with the Plegian king… His wife's father… just two days before still rung in his head, and the words from afterwards almost stung.

' _I can not believe that_ _ **my**_ _daughter married such a_ _ **vile**_ _Ylissean! If I had given her the upbringing that her mother_ _ **denied**_ _her, then she would have married somebody who_ _ **at least**_ _had Grimleal values! Disgusting! I would like to hope that he_ _ **dies**_ _before she even considers having a family with such a man!'_

Validar didn't know about Morgan… Yet. But if he were to hear that a future son of Robin's had saved his life, and had called him father… Then their son in Ylisstol would be at risk.

After hearing Robin's sobs for a few more minutes, he could no longer keep his thoughts inside his head. "… They weren't targeting us both… Your father wants _me_ dead. They were after… me."

That made Robin freeze, before letting out another choked sob. "I… I should check on how Morgan is… Brady should have finished tending to his injuries now..." Not even giving Frederick a chance to beg her to stay put whilst she calms down, she then stood up and ran out of the room that they were in.

Morgan was only recovering in the room next door, but gods, the journey felt like a million miles to the tactician. It was horrible knowing that her son had almost died, and she dreaded seeing the state that he was in…

Upon opening the door though, she noticed that Morgan was lying down on the bed in the room but on the top of the covers, covered in many bandages, presumably with just as many stitched up wounds underneath. He was sleeping… but the person beside him wasn't. Lucina was holding his hand, looking down at the ground. "I knew that coming to the past would come with risks… But I had forgotten the risk of losing you, Morgan… Hearing about what had happened to you… It reminded me of what you almost had done to me back at home..."

Robin didn't want to feel as though she were intruding, but what Lucina had said made it sound as though this Morgan… _Was_ her timeline's Morgan, not from elsewhere as she had previously suggested… It made her want to ask about what she had meant.

"Am… I right in assuming that you are losing sleep over him also?..." Chrom's daughter had noticed Robin stood there before she had even spoke up. Robin didn't even have to reply before Lucina then spoke up again. "And… You are confused as to what I had just said…"

The woman nodded as she walked in, and then went and ruffled the sleeping Morgan's hair. "Yes… You make it sound as though he… He came from your timeline..." Following that, Robin sat down and took hold of the boy's other hand. "Did you hide that from him… And from me and Frederick… Just so it wouldn't worry us?"

Lucina let go of Morgan's hand then, because she had noticed that his hand had suddenly tensed up as she was holding it. "I… I would rather tell you outside… He could wake up at any time..."

* * *

" _Coooooome on out, Luci! I know you're here and so are all of your friends! Might as well get your fight with dear old Morgan done with as soon as possible!_ " The young tactician, under the control of Grima, chuckled as he tossed a dagger between his hands." _Besides, isn't it better to fall at the hands of a friend, rather than at the hands of your friend's mother and master?!_ "

The remarks were more than enough to agitate the myrmidon of the group. "You are no friend any more, you fiend!" Owain jumped out from behind the rubble which was keeping him and Cynthia concealed, and brandished his sword before charging. "My sacred blood shall end you here, fiend!"

Morgan was capable of deflecting the sword blow with the dagger, and was quick to pull out his tome and knock Owain back, smirking as he crashed into some of the rubble. " _Okay, who is next? I bet that you can't beat me!"_

Lucina winced as she noticed the blood trailing down her cousin's forehead, before she turned to Kjelle. "Come on… We should make the next-" Before she could even finish, three more loud crashes were heard – Gerome crashing into a pillar, Nah hitting the ceiling, and Severa landing on the rubble that Owain was propped up against.

" _Is that_ _ **honestly**_ _all that you can come at me with?! I knew I was right in assuring master Grima that I could cope with this on my own!"_ Morgan then kicked at Nah's wing, seeming as she was too weak to return to her more human form, before laughing. " _But then again… Your parents were barely capable of putting up fights against my mother!"_

"Then what about _your_ father, Morgan?! He died protecting you! And to repay him, you join up with the person who _killed_ him! That is shameful!" Kjelle had finally had enough, and was now poised to fight, Lucina taking up arms alongside their other companions moments later.

Morgan's eyes dulled at those words, before they grew wide. "M- Mother… Killed…" Before he could tear up though, it looked almost as though he was hit over the head, That seemed to snap him back into his trance-like state." _You're trying to make me betray my mother!_ _ **How dare you!"**_ Before he could continue to yell though, he was quickly grabbed hold of and restrained by Inigo and a shaking Yarne.

Cynthia was reduced to a whisper as she helped to pull both Owain and Severa to their feet. "We need to go, and quickly… As soon as Grima realises that we have Morgan..." She ran her finger across her neck. "We're dead..."

* * *

 **So, for the reason behind this chapter being quite a bit shorter... I've been trying to rewrite/re-work this story for the past few days based upon the constructive criticisms and opinions made about it on here. However... I won't be posting the re-worked version on here! Chances are, I'll post that version on Archive of Our Own (that's what it's called, right? I'm a bit too used to just calling it AO3...) Perhaps I will eventually update the chapters on here, but for the time being, the chapters here will remain as they are. Also, I'm probably going to double up the chapters too (chapter 1 and 2 here will just be chapter 1 there) as I re-write. But I don't have an account on there yet, and I have to wait a few days... I'll update my profile when the time comes!**

 **Anyway, despite the length of this chapter (and despite poor, poor Morgan getting hurt, though there is a major plot point that I don't know how to write yet to do with it), I hope it was okay!**


	17. Fate is cruel to those of Fell Blood

**So... I am kind of straying off the main storyline for Awakening here. I'm going something a little different, but it will hopefully not be _too_ different!**

 **Oh, a** **nd I've also decided that one of a _particular_ character isn't enough in this chapter too!**

* * *

Robin hissed as she felt nails dig into her arm in what felt like an attempt to restrain her. All that she had done was go outside to try and see if there was any sort of hint as to why Validar would want Frederick dead, but now… this was happening.

"Stop trying to resist, Robin…" It was so _frustrating_ to feel her wrists now chafing against rope, especially where her scars from the past were... Especially the one from that attempt by Gangrel's men to have her killed. "Any and all escape attempts made by you would be futile – I know every way in which you could even try to escape, or try to instigate a rescue attempt by calling for your allies." Following that was a faint laugh, one which seemed… familiar. _Too_ familiar.

The tactician brought herself around into looking up, and her eyes narrowed. It was her lookalike, the one which worked as Validar's advisor… Once the woman had noticed that reaction, another, much louder laugh was heard. "What is going on here?… Let me go!"

Quietly, the woman knelt down in front of Robin, before gesturing to her allies to shove her down into the mud. With force. "Oh, Robin… You must be naive to have not figured things out yet."

After spitting dirt out of her mouth, Robin began to get particularly anxious. "Release me _now,_ I have a worried husband and a _dying_ son to look aft-"

With a hint of frustration on her face, the woman had to cover the now panicking tactician's mouth. "One of you shut her up, _please!_ " Once a different hand was over her mouth, the lookalike was finally able to continue. "Vessels don't last forever, Robin… This one is dying. Seeing Chrom, Frederick and everyone else alive… it's killing her. And that's why we've come for you."

 _Grima. This woman… Her lookalike who was right in front of her…_ _ **was Grima.**_

"This vessel only has about one week left… Just about enough time for your father to prepare you to become my next vessel whilst I hide amongst your friends acting like you… Well, _I_ am _you_ and _they_ are naive, so what difference does it make?! Hah!"

* * *

It was Frederick's turn to watch over Morgan for a short while, and he couldn't help but feel guilty as he watched the teenager's rather shaky breathing. Every so often, he took a turn for the worse and stopped breathing for a few moments, but would then suddenly start breathing once more. It was _horrible_ for Frederick to even think that if he had been able to react on time, then Morgan wouldn't even be in this sort of state…

With a deep sigh, the knight apologised to him, before he promptly began to cry as he covered his face. He was _so ashamed_ that he hadn't been able to do anything to protect him, his son, his own flesh and blood…

Morgan suddenly took a louder gasp for air, before making a few quiet sounds under his breath. And then… "W- Why?… D- D- Don't cry… father." The boy's cold fingers then rested upon Frederick's trouser leg as he attempted to laugh. "F- Father… I… I'm o- okay..."

All that Frederick could do was cry even more, before giving Morgan a gentle hug. "You're my son, Morgan… You almost died because of me… Can you honestly not blame me for wanting to cry?… That, and you've had your mother and Lucina worried..." Gods, was Frederick relieved to let out one or two of those pent up emotions…

After about thirty minutes of Morgan bringing himself around into opening his eyes, and propping himself up with pillows, the door to the room opened. It was Robin – _or so they thought._ "Hello, Frederick… Morgan..." She quietly sat down beside Frederick, before pursing her lips as she glanced up and down at the bandages covering Morgan's torso. At the same time, she couldn't help but notice how the ring upon her finger seemed quite a bit bigger on hers than Robin's. But ah, the sheer delight of seeing the tears pouring down Robin's face as she took the ring, considering that her own was lost in the future.

She had never noticed the concern which was laced throughout Frederick's face as she sat fidgeting, but Morgan definitely did notice the worry. "M- Mother… Maybe you and father sh- should… Talk f- for a minute…" With a faint mumble, the teenager then closed his eyes once more. "I… I want… to sleep..."

* * *

Robin was shaking as she held onto her knees, wishing that she was anywhere _but_ where she happened to be. Never in a million years had she thought that she would be chained up and imprisoned in a room at the Plegian castle, under the orders of none other than her own _father._ Every so often, she would catch a glimpse of the purple marking upon her hand, and each time it made her desire to grab a sword or dagger and just remove her hand even worse.

The room was cold, and there was a build up of sand in the corners too. She didn't even want to get started on the occasional spiders and rats which she saw every so often in the dim torchlight. _The flames flickering on the torches reminded her of Frederick, all thanks to his fondness of fire._

She knew that the next few days were going to be _painful._ Two had already passed… _Five more days..._

Except…

 _Her plan still had to be put into action. Chrom, Frederick and Flavia knew of a majority the plan, the supposedly deceased Basilio aware of it all. If everything went according to plan, without Grima trying to mess it up...Perhaps she stood a chance of escaping, as it involved coming here to the castle!_

"I said _look at me,_ daughter!" The sudden shout snapped Robin out of her daze, and brought her back to the reality of the situation. She was likely not to get rescued, and she was stuck here, with nobody but her father and Aversa for company when they decided to taunt her with their freedom and plans to turn her into Grima's next vessel. "Robin, if I have to order you to look at me one more time, then I _will not hesitate_ to put your mind under my control!"

Meekly, Robin pulled her knees closer to her chest and forced herself into making eye-contact with Validar. "… What?…" Her voice was cracking as she spoke, tears welling up as she tried to comprehend what was going to happen to her.

The smirk and chuckle from Validar as he decided to stand over her was enough to send shivers down her spine. "We shall be… spending a few hours together. Father and daughter… _Master and prisoner."_ Hearing that was enough to make Robin grow pale as she felt the chains around her wrists come loose and with her getting forced to her feet. _What did he even mean by that?_ On top of that, she couldn't even try to escape, seeming as Validar had members of the Grimleal almost _everywhere_ , every single one of them ordered to grab hold of her if she tried to get out.

 _How she just wanted to be in Frederick's arms, and to be able to see his smile…_

All that she could do was internally wince as she heard her father laugh at the scared face which she was pulling, before he forced her to stand before him. "Now, you had better not dare try anything funny, _daughter…_ You may technically be a world renowned tactician, and princess of this country, but that does not change the fact that you are _powerless_ in Plegia until you accept your fate as Grima!" She had to bite her lip in order to suppress a scream when she then felt herself caught in what she assumed was meant to be some sort of embrace. It turned out that the man was only wanting to hiss down her ear. "If only your mother had not ran away with you when you were simply a newborn babe… The night following the marking of your bloodline appearing upon your hand, she fled with you in her arms, simply because she was one of those wretched 'Divine dragon' followers, and she wanted to 'cleanse' you of your destiny! Wretched woman… I should have requested that Gangrel executed her the day after your birth for scheming against Plegia!"His voice sounded dark… scary even. "And then, you make the situation much worse by deciding to cooperate with that Ylissean prince, and initiating a relationship with _that knight!_ There had better not be anything else which you haven't told me about, Robin..."

 _He couldn't find out about Morgan… She couldn't risk her young son, one not even a year old, the other close to sixteen, being exposed to danger… Exposed to his grandfather…_

Then an almost horrific thought came over the woman, based on what had been said to her by her lookalike... ' _This vessel only has about one week left… Just about enough time for your father to prepare you to become my next vessel._ ' Morgan's birthday was in one week as of the day in which she was taken, meaning… He was probably going to lose his mother on his birthday…

She began to cry then, and it made her father look at her in suspicion… He knew straight away that Robin was most definitely hiding something, but he knew that in such a state that she was in… It wouldn't take much to get that out of her…

Before he could dare do or say anything though… "Oh Validar… I have some important information for you~ I'm sure that your precious little daughter would like to know this too..." Aversa was most definitely not welcomed by the tactician as she tried to find a way to worm out of Validar's grasp as she wept, but what was said afterwards made her freeze up. "The Ylisseans are approaching… They shall be here by nightfall. And also… There have been some sightings in a nearby town which I believe will pique your interest..."

* * *

"And… An apple, please!"

"That makes it now, adding that to your tome, lance _and_ water… Six thousand gold."

"Wh- What?!" The white haired girl flinched as she heard the total amount, before wincing as she reached into her coat's pocket. _Where was her gold!?_ "Oh gods… Where is my money?!" After a few more moments, she breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled out small handful of gold. "Uh… How much does this cover?"

The shopkeeper snorted, and turned his back on the girl as she narrowed her eyes. There had to be _at least_ fifteen hundred gold there, surely enough to cover at least one of the items which she wanted to purchase! " _I want the lance."_

He gruffly muttered a few curses under his breath, placing the lance as far back in his stall as he could. "Kid, this is no place for games. If your trickery is discovered by the king, then you shall be swiftly locked up. Now get going to your parents-"

She slammed her fist down upon the table, sending a small box on the edge falling into the Plegian sand. _Her parents were somewhere in this damn realm, and she didn't know where! Hell, she hardly knew who either of her parents were!_

Before she had the opportunity to even shout at the man once more, her eyes began to well up with tears. Without even thinking, she then pushed past the table and the man, and grabbed hold of the tome. "You just mentioned a _very_ touchy subject to me… I don't even _know_ my parents. So, I'll give you a choice… You let me have what I wanted to buy… And you can live." Her face was dark, considering that her eyes had narrowed and her fringe had parted slightly, coving more of her face than previously.

At the lack of any response, her hand began to become enveloped in a dark, purplish glow, considering that the tome was one which utilised dark magic. "I guess that you don't care about your life then!" The surrounding areas of the town fell silent after she had released the built up magic, and the shopkeeper's limp, pale body ended up in the middle of a pathway. Children were hiding behind their parents, and nearby, there were Plegian soldiers picking up their weapons, looking straight at her.

 _That hadn't worked out how she had wanted it to._

She grabbed the three items beside the tome which she had intended on buying, before stepping back a slight bit as she looked for a way to run. But before she could consider running… A hand much larger than her own took hold of her wrist. _A bony hand at that._ She was terrified, the situation felt on par with kidnap… But then again, she had just killed a man…

"Show me your hand, child." The girl winced at the cold breath touching her ear as everyone in the area stared at the situation. But then, the mumbles of the citizens caught her interest…

"Isn't that the new king?..."

"I think that it could be, it looks like all of the illustrations I've seen..."

"King Validar?..."

The man holding onto her was the king… That terrified her, as she had read that many Plegian rulers loved the premise of executions over crimes, no matter what happened to be. Because of that, she dropped the items in her hands and stood shaking. "I… I don't get why you want to see my-!"

Before she could continue, her right hand, the one which was being held onto, was pulled closer to the man, making her fall to her knees because of the force used. "So… She is the one we have been looking for, she has the marking… Aversa, take this child to our other prisoner. I am sure that they would appreciate company in their final days..."

 _Final… days…_

The girl began to tear up then, before the book which she always kept in her coat dug into her skin. "I'm sorry, big brother… I promised I would meet you here… I guess not..."

 _The brother she was speaking of was Morgan._

* * *

Frederick was feeling more and more reluctant the further that the Shepherds moved into Plegia. He was growing fearful that if Validar became aware of his presence in the country again, his life would surely be taken this time… Leaving Morgan without a father would hurt not just the child, but Robin too… And speaking of Morgan, the one from the future was also one reason on as to why he wasn't exactly keen on advancing any further forward.

The teenager had insisted upon accompanying the group into Plegia, despite him still recovering from his injuries. Yes, the wounds had mostly been healed thanks to Brady, with them being all closed up and simply just scars by that point, but the pain was still evident in his breathing and speaking. Frederick still felt responsible for him being hurt, and it just made him feel… terrible.

"Come on, father! If you want, I could accompany Chrom as we speak with Validar… I know that mother isn't going to be there whilst he does meet up with grandfather, but Chrom would need some sort of company other than Lucina… Validar doesn't know that I am your child and his grandchild, seeming as the people who attacked us were caught before they could return to Plegia, so hopefully he won't try to do anything to me..." Morgan placed his hand upon the knight's shoulder, before putting on a grin so similar to Robin's…

In response, Frederick gave a strangely timid smile back, before nodding and hugging his son. "If you do not mind, Morgan… I will stay with the group which remains outside the Plegian castle, if you go inside..." And then, the person who they assumed was Robin walked over to the two, which made them move apart a slight bit.

Her white hair was looking particularly scraggly, and she seemed a lot… skinnier than usual. "Morgan, could you give me and your father a moment… Alone?" She then smiled at the boy as he walked outside, before turning to face Frederick with a straight face… She looked devoid of any and all emotion. "I wish to give you this, Frederick."

With a bit more force than she intended, she took hold of his hand and placed something in it… The very ring which he had given her in Ferox all those years ago…

He froze when he realised what the object was, before looking at her with wide eyes. "Robin… What in the name of-?… Wh- Why?..." _Why would she have given him her wedding ring?!_

"Frederick, do not worry… It is only for now… I want you to protect this for me… And if the worst does happen after all of this, you will have this to remember me by..." _Grima was really just getting frustrated at the ring being too big for her finger. It was better to let Frederick die soon with at least_ _ **one**_ _memento of his wife, who had only a few days left before she becomes the new vessel..._

She then, against her will, placed a kiss on his cheek, before turning to walk outside again. "And if we get through this all intact… You can return it…"

One outside, she then hissed in pain as she looked at her right hand. The blood vessels around the brand were slowly starting to glow with a deeper purple than it used to, and was spreading across her body. Once they become visible upon her face… That was the signal to finish preparations for her power to be transferred to Robin. _Soon… Only a day or two at most until that day comes…_

* * *

"Here, let me see that injury..." Robin bit her lip as she checked over the arm of the girl who was now imprisoned alongside her. There was quite a bit of bruising on her wrist, where it looked as thought somebody had _really_ took hold of her wrist tightly. "How did you get hurt?… Actually… Who are you?..." The tactician gave the girl a forlorn look, before putting on a weak smile.

The younger of the two looked at the dirt on the ground, before tracing a few small shapes into it. "I was looking for my big brother, and hopefully my parents… I caused a bit of trouble in a nearby town, trying to buy supplies for whilst I looked for them... Then that king guy grabbed hold of me. I thought he was going to execute me for stealing and killing the shopkeeper, but… it was because of some mark which was on my hand…" She spun one of the loose threads from her gloves around a finger from her other hand, before putting on a timid smile. "My name is..." She paused for a moment, before taking a while to think. "I don't know. I think my father was killed before I was born, and something happened to my mother just after I was born, meaning that I wasn't officially… named." Robin stared at the girl with wide eyes, before the girl put on a small smile. "As a joke, my friends did just call me by my brother's name as a nickname, seeming as we share a birthday despite him being older, but added an 'a' to the end… So… I _guess_ that I _could_ be called Morgana…"

That then made Robin blink for a moment, before sighing as tears welled up in her eyes. "My son is called Morgan… He's only just a toddler… I'm probably never going to see him again..." She whispered, just as the girl gasped and placed her hands upon her shoulders.

"Lady… You don't have to cry! I'll- No! We'll find a way out of here, I'm sure of it! You can see your son again..." Almost straight away, Robin then began to bawl even more. This girl almost reminded her of her future son too… And then she noticed something. _The mark on the girl's hand. "_ Just as I am sure that I'll see big brother Morgan again, maybe my parents too… Robin and Frederick are their names..."

The tactician's eyes grew wide, and despite tears running down her face, her pupils were growing drier because of her not blinking. "You… You're looking for… Robin and Frederick?…" She forced herself to blink, before grabbing hold of the girl tightly. "Well… I guess that you've found your mother… _I'm_ Robin… Frederick is my husband."

"M… Mother?..."

* * *

 **So... Uh... Yeah. Female Morgan is here (just not called Morgan...)**

 **That and Robin's being held prisoner by her _lovely_ father...**

 **I think this story is only going to have about three or four more chapters, so... It's getting up to a conclusion soon! Sorry for the chapters taking so long though...**


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